


Hidden Power

by Acanthus_Addams



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-27 04:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 72,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20754422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acanthus_Addams/pseuds/Acanthus_Addams
Summary: Sometimes the greatest of power is that which we unlock from within. After an accident at the Cerulean gym forces the Waterflower sisters to relocate to Indigo Plateau, Ash's sudden inspiration to tackle the Indigo League again teaches him that such power doesn't always present itself in the ways we expect. Pokéshipping, Handymanshipping, Rocketshipping and others.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the longest and most ambitious work I've attempted to write so far. Think of it as a kind of multi-episode story arc of the anime, but with a more mature twist. I'll try to update as often as I can, but it takes me such a long time to write at my best so I can't make any promises as to how regularly that'll be.
> 
> This chapter and the next serve to set the scene; the heart of the story will unfold in time...

Hidden Power

PROLOGUE

Ash Ketchum rolled over in his bed for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. After a whole day of travelling, he'd expected to be out like a light as soon as his aching body hit the mattress, but lo and behold, here he was, wide awake and positively bristling with energy. Sweat-glued strands of black hair streaked his forehead, and his chestnut eyes felt weighty and unfocused, despite sleep having yet to come even close to claiming him. It had been a long time indeed since he had slept in his own bed. Comfortable perhaps wasn't the best word to describe it – his feet hung over the edges and the covers didn't seem to stretch as far as they once did – though it certainly beat roughing it out in the woods, and was at least a change from staying at another plain old pokémon centre. In any case, he knew that his restlessness was no fault of his surroundings; there were only a handful of things that could keep him up like this, many of which were so rare and confusing that he struggled to even put them into words.

In his defence, the last few days had been a lot more eventful than most. Saying goodbye to his travelling companions was never an easy task, and Iris and Cilan were no exception. The open road was often a lonely place, and he couldn't have been more thankful to run into two people who were willing to share their individual journeys with him through the Unova region. Iris had told him that she would be heading to Johto to battle the Blackthorn City gym leader, Clair, whereas Cilan intended to travel to Hoenn in the hopes of entering a renowned fishing competition. Naturally, Ash was saddened by their departure, but gave the duo his best wishes nonetheless, like he always did. As they had both taken the same train to Johto, he wondered if they would even travel together for a while before splitting off; a pleasing thought, in a peculiar sort of way…

Then there was the epiphany he'd had at Professor Oak's pokémon reserve only hours ago. As soon as he had learned that Alexa, his temporary (and now only) travelling companion, was from the Kalos region, a faraway land with its own battle conference, its own gym leaders and, most importantly, a whole range of new and unique pokémon to discover, the idea of exploring such a place had never left the aspiring pokémon master's thoughts. Until this afternoon, a thought was all it had been, but now he was decided: Kalos was to be his next destination. Ash's head jerked upwards slightly. Of course! The excitement of starting a new adventure in the morning – that had to be why he couldn't sleep, right?

But there was one other thing on his mind, a seed that had been planted at almost the exact same moment as the last. It was the simplest little snippet of a conversation, one he had given so little thought to at the time, yet for some reason he couldn't keep it out of his head now:

"Hey, Professor, where's Tracey?"

"As fate would have it, Misty invited him to the Cerulean gym."

The final few words played over and over again on his lips. That name…that place…had it really been so long? It went without saying that he missed all of his friends, wherever their journeys and career paths had taken them. Tracey was one of his oldest friends, and so it was understandably disappointing not to have seen him at the lab today. But Misty…she was his best friend, the very first of his travelling companions. It had been three years since he last saw her in person, and their written contact in the meantime had been patchy at best. He shivered as a strange sensation churned about in his stomach, a mixture of guilt, sadness and something else he couldn't quite pin down. There was no excusing it, as he well knew; how could he have gone all this time without seeing the one he missed most of all?

Turning his head to the side, he noticed Pikachu curled up in a deep slumber, his angular yellow tail rising and falling with every light snore he purred out. It really was amusing to him that the little ball of fur could be so tired when he'd spent most of the day hitching a ride on his trainer's shoulder. Then again, Ash realised, his loyal pokémon companion wasn't as young as he used to be – and now that he thought about it, neither was he.

Almost twelve years he had spent in pursuit of his goal. _Twelve years_, over half his life, and he still loved every second of it. Even so, it would have been nice to have a proper victory under his belt by now. Instinctively, the young man's eyes wandered over to his chest of drawers, upon which lay a variety of souvenirs from his years of travelling. Though his case of Unova badges he had placed there earlier that day glinted over at him instantly, it was the shimmering Orange League trophy next to it that really caught his eye. Unofficial or not, the little-known tournament was the only one of its type that Ash had ever conquered, and the winged bronze object it earned him one of his most prized possessions. He could still remember the roar of the crowds, the euphoria of prevailing over such a tough opponent, the feeling of the trophy for the first time in his hands…but even that was a whole ten years ago. Almost to the day, in fact.

Tracey was travelling with him back then – Misty too. And before he could do anything about it, there was his mind snapping straight back to her. All those times he'd returned home after a tournament, all those years he'd been coming and going, and he had never once thought to visit her before he left again. It would have been so easy, just a day or two up at the gym for them to catch up, battle, maybe even fight a little? He chuckled to himself before the smile slid lazily off his face. At least Tracey had been there to keep her company, he reminded himself…although for some reason, the more Ash thought about that, the queasier he began to feel. _He_ should have been there for her; _he_ should have been the friend she deserved; _he _should be-

Sitting up, Ash slowly nodded in realisation. It wasn't too late to make this right. He was home now; there was no better opportunity – especially since there'd be no telling how long he was going away for this time. And besides…

"Kalos isn't going anywhere, right, buddy?" he whispered with a grin over to his snoozing pokémon. "Hope Alexa doesn't mind a quick detour to Cerulean City…"

He then lay back down, closing his eyes and, to his relief, feeling tiredness creep up on him within minutes. A new start was just around the corner, a new path to walk with countless new adventures waiting to be had – but who was to say that the old ones weren't still just as fun?

* * *

"Ash, honey, can you get the door?"

A loud thud sounded from the upstairs level of the Ketchum residence.

"Oof! Uhh, y-yeah, just a minute!"

Ash rubbed the part of his head that had just made contact with his door, readjusting his hastily placed feet within his jeans and groaning in exhaustion. This morning had been a later-than-expected start, no doubt owing to his bout of reflection when he was supposed to be sleeping, so the fatigued pokémon trainer had been forced to take a shower and get dressed in record time to be ready for Alexa's arrival. Evidently, it still wasn't quick enough.

"The door, Ashy!" came his mother's mirthful voice from the kitchen. "You're keeping your poor friend waiting out there!"

"Pikapi, pika chu!" seconded Pikachu at the foot of the stairs.

"C-Coming!" Ash shouted down as he stumbled out of his bedroom and barrelled down the hall in the direction of the staircase. The second to last step creaked as usual under his weight, and the crinkle in the welcome mat almost sent him flying, but he eventually made it to the front door, swinging it open and wincing at the bright sunlight that immediately hit him.

"Morning, Ash!" waved Alexa, her headset and laptop case in hand.

"Hey, Alexa," he smiled back at her, "and…Professor? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you off, my boy!" the aging researcher chuckled through his trademark coffee breath.

Ash stepped backwards to let them into the house, at which point Alexa looked the pokémon trainer up and down in confusion.

"Um, I feel I may already know the answer to this, but…did you sleep well?"

It was certainly no mystery as to what she was referring to, Ash discovered when he examined his bedraggled appearance. His fly was down, the one sock he had on flopped about at the end of his toes, and the head hole of his black T-shirt was currently home to both his neck and one of his arms.

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ehe…"

"Seems like a classic case of pre-travelling jitters to me," came another voice from the doorway.

"Tracey!" Ash cried as his older friend stepped through the threshold to greet him.

"Glad I caught you before you left," Tracey said. "It took me ages in the rush hour traffic to get back from Cerulean City, so I figured I might have just missed you."

Ash's ears pricked up. "Wait, I thought Professor Oak said it was yesterday you were in Cerulean City."

"Yeah, that's right," he nodded. "I went over there to help Misty out yesterday, but I ended up staying until this morning. Oh hey, Pikachu!"

"Ah…" Ash mumbled ethereally as he watched Tracey bending down to shake Pikachu's paw. "Pokémon centre?"

The amiable pokémon watcher stood back up. "No, no, I just stayed at the gym."

"You spent the night at the gym?" Ash blurted out without thinking.

"Er, yeah. Misty insisted."

With those words came the sickly, bubbling feeling in his stomach again. There was something about the image all of this conjured that bothered him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. It only made sense for Misty to have put Tracey up for the night, after all; the gym was huge, and Misty had always gone above and beyond for her friends. Still, knowing this, the time they must have spent together while he was away, it almost made him feel kind of…lonely…

"Is something the matter, Ash?" he heard Alexa say after a tense few seconds.

Only with this question did Ash even realise he was staring off into space. He shook his head to regain his bearings and turned back to his concerned friends.

"Oh, n-no, I was just-"

"Good morning, Alexa!" chirped Delia Ketchum as she skipped into the living room. "And oh, Samuel, Tracey, what a nice surprise! Will you be staying for breakfast?"

"We'd love to, thank you, Delia," said Professor Oak.

As the guests gradually filed into the kitchen, Ash raced back upstairs to complete his morning rituals without any more interruptions. Five minutes later, he reappeared wearing his brand new travelling garb: a blue jacket with white lining, a pair of red and black fingerless gloves, and a new red cap with a pokéball motif to complete his signature look.

"Oh, Ash, you look so grown-up in those clothes!" Delia beamed. "But then, I suppose you are a grown-up now, aren't you? Here, I made your favourite."

"Thanks, Mom," he said, taking a plate of scrambled eggs and sitting down between Pikachu and Professor Oak. Across the table, he saw Tracey and Alexa engaged in a lively conversation, something about the 'joys of pokémon watching' or the like. He presumed they had introduced themselves while he was upstairs.

"…And I'm turning thirty in a couple of months so I was planning to stay in Santalune City with my sister until then," Alexa finished with a flick of her mousy bangs.

Her eyes then panned over to Ash, at which point he knew she was about to address the donphan in the room. "So, Ash, you all set to head to the airport in Viridian soon? If we get there in the next hour or so, I reckon we could be on a plane by just after midday."

The pokémon trainer gulped. He'd very much hoped not to have a huge audience for this part of the conversation.

"Um, yeah, about that," he started, wringing his hands under the table. "Are you in much of a hurry to see your sister?"

"Erm…not especially. Why?" Alexa asked, perplexed.

"Well, I was just thinking about all my past journeys last night when I couldn't sleep, and, uh…"

He paused to take a nervous bite of toast. Why was this so hard for him to say? "And I…I think I'd like to go to Cerulean City to visit my friend Misty before we leave."

Pikachu's sticky face emerged from the bottle of ketchup he had been lapping away at all morning. "Pikachupi?" he squeaked excitedly.

Alexa raised a curious eyebrow. "Cerulean City?" the journalist repeated. "But we passed through there on the way to Pallet Town! Why didn't you say anything then?"

The question caused Ash's face to redden. "I, er, didn't think to at the time…"

"And wait a second; you don't mean Misty Waterflower, the Cerulean gym leader, do you? She's said to be one of Kanto's strongest trainers these days – I'd sure like a chance to interview her for my portfolio at some point."

Ash nodded, feeling a strange sense of pride after Alexa's description of his best friend.

At the end of the room, Delia clasped her hands together with joy. "Oh, Ashy, I think that's a wonderful idea! It's been so long since you and Misty have seen each other; just think of how happy this will make her!"

"Tell me about it," Tracey agreed. "Honestly, when I was at the gym, we spent most of the time just talking about you. You couldn't shut her up once she started! I'm not sure Misty'd ever admit it, but it's obvious she's dying to see her best friend."

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash couldn't help but notice Alexa's smile growing wider with each new fragment of insight she gained.

"How sweet!" she giggled soon after. "Well, I can't very well deprive you of an opportunity like this, now can I?"

Aside from the rather unsettling wink she gave him thereafter, Ash quickly felt himself returning to his usual energetic, optimistic self.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed, leaping up from his seat. "Then let's go pick up Charizard and get going!"

"You're travelling to Cerulean on Charizard?" Tracey inquired.

As Ash nodded his head once again, Professor Oak cleared his throat and adjusted his red shirt collar. "In that case, we'd best be heading back to the lab. Are you ready, Ash?"

The boy in question was no longer there, however, as a swift gust of wind and the subsequent billowing of the tablecloth were quick to demonstrate.

"Come on, guys, let's go!" his effervescent voice shouted from the path outside.

Delia could only giggle. "That's my Ash, alright."

The short walk up to the laboratory was peppered with stories of Ash's adventures in Unova, a subject that Tracey and Professor Oak absorbed with particular fascination. Delia and Alexa chatted a couple of feet behind the boys, and although Ash's own conversation prevented him from properly hearing theirs, he was sure he heard his and Misty's names crop up now and then, followed by bursts of girlish giggling. Whatever that was about was clearly not for him to know, but he didn't stick around long enough for it to faze him.

A quick trawl through the reserve saw Ash reunited with his loyal fire dragon, and soon after, he, Charizard and the rest of the Pallet party were congregated on the winding dirt path outside the lab.

"Looks like that's everything," Ash affirmed as he and Pikachu climbed up onto Charizard's back. "Hop on, Alexa!"

She didn't move. "What's wrong?" he spoke down to her. "Aren't you coming with me?"

"Oh no, you go on ahead. I think I'll stick around in Pallet Town for the time being," Alexa stated, turning to Professor Oak. "If you wouldn't mind, Professor, I'd love to pick your brain some more about your philosophies on pokémon research. And you too, Tracey – an interview of such a dedicated pokémon watcher would be invaluable for my portfolio."

"Of course!" the two researchers expressed simultaneously.

"Besides," Alexa continued, glancing at Delia out of the corner of her eye, "something tells me Misty'd appreciate it a lot more if you went to see her alone."

She then winked at him again, and like before, Ash had no idea what to make of it. "Well, okay then," he shrugged. "I'll be back in a day or so, and then we can head to Kalos." After a slight pause, he quickly added, "Two days tops!"

"Take care, honey!" Delia smiled up at him. "And give Misty my love!"

"Groooaaar!" puffed Charizard, unfurling his mighty wingspan. Slowly, the Flame Pokémon rose up into the air, kicking up a fierce wind underneath him, and moments later, he and his passengers were but three indistinguishable dots in the distance.

Delia watched the sky until the tiny speck had completely disappeared. She could feel a small tear in her eye, but she knew it would not fall. This was her son's calling, his destiny, and there was nothing in the world she wanted more than for him to be happy.

"He'll be back," a rather windswept Professor Oak assured her.

The auburn-haired woman looked over at her old friend. "Oh, it's not that. I was just thinking…"

"Ah," he immediately understood. "The age-old question. Aren't we all?"

"You'd think one of them would've given it away by now," Tracey joined in. "Then again, Ash isn't exactly known for his intuitiveness with this sort of thing…"

"If you're talking about what I think you are," said Alexa, "then from what you've told me, Mrs. Ketchum, this practically seems like a done deal already! Do you think something will come of it this time?"

Turning her eyes back to the sky, Delia sighed wistfully. "I really hope so, Alexa. For both their sakes…"


	2. I: A Ruinous Reunion

CHAPTER 1: A Ruinous Reunion

The small clock on the Cerulean City gym's front desk read 12:08pm as three glamorous women swaggered through the glass doors, cups of takeout coffee in one hand and expensive handbags slung over the other.

"And you'll never guess who was at the party last night…" squealed Violet, her two sisters leaning in closer.

"Only, like, Brad Van Darn, star of _Ultra Maximum_, and his adorable little smoochum!"

Daisy and Lily grabbed each other in excitement. "Ooh! I hate you so much right now!" Lily cried with a smile from ear to ear. "What's he like? Is he single? Man, I wish he'd take _me_ to the ultra maximum…"

"Gorgeous; yes; and in your dreams," the blunette smirked in answer to all three questions.

Lily fumed. "Oh yeah? Like, you're just jealous because you know for a fact if I'd been there he'd have only had eyes for me!"

"And even then, that'd just be because the most beautiful sister wasn't there," Daisy winked.

They turned to her. "Hey, you can't be, like, saying stuff like that anymore, Little Miss Engaged!"

"Oh stop," she giggled, holding up the radiant diamond on her left hand.

"Do you, like, know how much he paid for it?" Violet asked impishly. "Because anyone'll tell you that your man only loves you as much as he's willing to spend on you!"

"Gotta say, Dais, never thought you'd fall for someone like him," Lily said. "But you're, like, so totally cute together! Oh, tell us the story again! Please, please, please?"

Rolling her eyes playfully, Daisy flipped her coffee cup into a nearby bin and scooted behind the front desk as if it were a lectern for a grand speech.

"Okay, so you know that, like, dreamy seafood place on the waterfront?" she started. "Well, he took me there for our, like, five-year anniversary, and after dessert the band started playing my favourite song, and then he got down on one knee and-"

The eldest Waterflower sister's magical tale was abruptly cut off by the slamming of the arena doors a few feet away. Seconds later, out came a young boy who sped past the trio in tears, followed by a slender, redheaded woman with a decidedly tired look on her face.

"Nice to see you making friends, Misty," teased Lily, while Daisy and Violet sniggered. "What'd you do this time? Let him read your diary?"

A murderous look was sent the pink-haired sister's way.

"This is, like, the second time this week you've KO'ed a newbie so bad you made them cry," Daisy pointed out. "Can't you just go easy on them a bit?"

"What, and make the gym a laughing stock like it was when you three were running it?" Misty spat back. "I don't just hand badges out willy-nilly like you do, you know."

"Jeez, no need to, like, bite our heads off!" exclaimed Violet.

The youngest of the sisters sighed, releasing most of her residual irritation. "Ugh, never mind, just tired," she mumbled. "What are you all doing lurking out here in the foyer anyway? No wonder no stronger trainers ever come to challenge me if you're always standing here scaring them away!"

"Like, _au contraire_, little sis," Daisy sneered in the least convincing French accent imaginable. "If we're here in the doorway, people are sure to flood in to meet the beautiful Sensational Sisters, right?"

"Ooh, ooh, Misty, did you hear?" Lily interjected. "Vi met _the_ Brad Van Darn last night! Don't you just wanna, like, strangle her?"

"Huh," was all she said, much to her sisters' disappointment. "I met him too, once."

"You did not!" Lily gasped in amazement.

Misty nodded. "Mhm, back when we were travelling in Johto. It was Ash, Brock and I who convinced him to include Smoochum in his movies in the first place."

"No fair! You two have already met him and I'm the one who, like, wants to meet him the most!"

"Better luck next time, Lils," Violet said, sticking her tongue out at her younger sister.

"Well, not that this isn't fascinating or anything," Misty began dryly, "but I've got to get back to work."

Not giving them the chance to object, the young woman turned to head downstairs to the underground aquarium level of the gym.

"I'll, like, never understand her," Violet chuckled to herself. "Who'd pick doing boring old work over talking about boys?"

"Beats me," Lily agreed. "Anyway, get on with the story, Daisy!"

Another few minutes in and the story was interrupted yet again, this time by a large, winged pokémon landing on the cobbled front path. It roared with relief as a handsome young man stepped off its back and stretched out his limbs dramatically. Daisy, Violet and Lily popped their heads around the corner to watch the scene.

"Like, speaking of boys…" Violet slavered. "Who is _this_ dreamboat?"

"Hey, get your own, I saw him first!" Lily growled.

Daisy, however, remained silent. There was something familiar about the way this person carried himself: the childish spring in his step, the messy hair poking out from around his cap, the…pikachu…perched on his…shoulder…

"Wait, is that…?" She squinted her eyes to get a closer look, jumping up thereafter and clasping her hands over her mouth.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" she repeated hurriedly, dancing around on her tiptoes.

"What? What is it?" Lily asked.

"Do you know who that is?" Daisy replied. When they each shook their heads, she beckoned them closer and whispered the answer in their ears.

"You're serious?!" Violet's eyes grew wide. "But he's so…so…hot!"

"Guess you'll just have to, like, make do with Van Darn," Lily sniped bitterly.

"He's coming, he's coming!" Daisy cried. "Everybody act normal – pretend we haven't seen him!"

Ash breathed in deeply. The air in Cerulean City was a far cry from that of Pallet Town: crisp and salty, all the flavours of the water that defined this one-of-a-kind place.

"It's still just how it looked when Misty and I were kids, right, buddy?" he remarked as he looked up at the gym. Yellow and pink stripes reached all the way up to the domed roof of the satisfyingly circular building, and the gigantic dewgong-shaped metal plate above the doorway smiled brightly over at him with its cartoonish face.

"Thanks a lot, Charizard." He patted his pokémon affectionately. "You take a good long rest."

After returning it to its pokéball, Ash made his way across the front porch, his chest tightening strangely when he heard the distinctive chime of the automatic front doors. The foyer was empty…save for one person he instantly recognised.

"Hi, Daisy!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Good afternoon, sir, and welcome to the Cerulean gym!"

Ash's glee ebbed away in a matter of a second. "Uhh…"

"Can I help you with anything today?"

Although the blonde behind the desk was a natural born actress, this particular act was seriously testing her ability to keep a straight face.

"Huh? Daisy, don't you remember me? It's Misty's friend, A-"

"If you're here for a battle I can see if our gym leader has a window in her schedule. Name?"

"It's Ash! Come on, I travelled with your sister for five years!"

Daisy looked up. "Okay, Flash, it says here there's a slot available in three hours time."

Ash could have sworn he heard laughter coming from somewhere close. "Not Flash, Ash!" he disputed, his eye twitching. "Look, can't I just talk to Misty?"

"If you insist. One moment, please," Daisy said robotically, placing her finger on a button next to her.

"Misty, you have a very special guest here to see you!" she sang into the microphone.

"Yeah, well unless you're gonna come and scrub these pokémon tanks for me you can tell them I'm a little busy right now," her tinny voice came back through the speaker.

Ash chuckled inwardly, but at the same time, the tightening in his chest returned at that very moment. He could barely remember the last time he'd heard his best friend's voice. Disgruntled or not, it was kind of…nice.

"Oh, trust me, I think you're gonna wanna make time for this one," Daisy giggled.

"Daisy, I swear, if this is another one of your attempts to set me up with some guy…"

"It's not, it's not! Well, not exactly…anyway, just, like, get up here!"

Her finger slid off the button and moved up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "The gym leader will be right up, sir," she stated all business-like, causing Ash to both sigh with relief and grunt in annoyance.

The silence that followed was not pleasant at all. Ash slouched against the counter, examined his fingernails, made peculiar popping sounds with his mouth, anything to distract him from the fact that Daisy hadn't taken her eyes off him in the last three minutes. That, and the laughing he could hear earlier was gradually getting clearer and more frequent, until suddenly, after about another minute…

"AHAHAHA OH GOD I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!"

"What the…" Ash was uncharacteristically lost for words as Misty's other two sisters unfolded themselves from underneath the desk, sides splitting with laughter.

"You should have, like, seen your face!" Violet spluttered.

"Misty's really gonna have her hands full with you!" coughed Lily.

"Wait, so you know who I am now?" Ash finally caught on.

"We always knew, silly!" said Daisy. "Like, how could we forget Misty's little boyfriend?"

The young man's face reddened like a newborn wurmple. "B-Boyfriend?" he stammered. "W-Wait, I'm not…"

But before he could elaborate further, a pattering of light footsteps in his left ear caused him to turn towards the staircase less than ten feet away. On the ceiling above it was a shadow, one that changed shape and size with every step the person casting it took. It was slightly eerie at first, but soon Ash was able to make out the shape of a distinctive side ponytail, and his heart began to pulsate in his chest. Faster and faster the beats became, to the point where they were almost in sync with the sound of the footfalls. He felt nervous…_why_ would he be nervous?

"Alright, Daisy, I'm elbow-deep in goldeen crap down there so whatever this is, make it qui-"

Then she saw him. And he saw her. Their eyes locked, and their bodies tensed. The rag she was holding slipped from her hand and bundled up on the tiles at her feet. And for the most drawn-out of moments, their anxious breathing was all that could be heard.

The Sensational Sisters waited with anticipation for one of them to crack. Were the two of them holding guns, the scene would almost be akin to a Mexican standoff.

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu eventually called over from atop the front desk. He made a move to leap towards his dear friend, but thought better of it when he saw the look on her face. Misty certainly didn't need a gun to make her feelings known.

"Hey, Misty," Ash waved innocently, clearly not seeing what his pika-pal was seeing.

In the blink of an eye, Misty dashed forward and grabbed the startled man by the collar.

"HEY?!" she shrieked right in his face. "THREE YEARS IT'S BEEN SINCE WE'VE SEEN EACH OTHER – THREE YEARS! – AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS 'HEY'?!"

He was taller than her now, as their sudden proximity allowed him to see – but in no way did that make his best friend any less intimidating.

"M-Misty, I…"

"No, wait! Actually, it's more like _five_ years if we don't include your quaint little flyby home visit from Sinnoh! Just as well I was there visiting your mom anyway, wasn't it? Did you never stop to think, 'hmm, I'm about to leave home again for Mew knows how long, I wonder if there's anyone I know around here who'd be kinda ticked off if I didn't go to see them first?'"

Ash felt wounded by her words. This wasn't exactly the hero's welcome he'd been promised.

"Hey, I tried to write as often as I could!" was all he could think to defend himself with.

"What, every six months? I had to call your mom or Professor Oak every few weeks to check that you weren't dead!"

"I was travelli- oww!" Misty's grip on his jacket tightened.

"Can it, Ketchum!" she brusquely snapped. "You think you can go for years without visiting me and then just stroll in one day expecting me to be over the moon? I'm betting you hand out 'best friend' titles like they're RageCandyBars, but I sure as hell don't, and where I'm from, best friends don't even think about hanging each other out to dry like this!"

"It's not like that!" he bit back, shaking himself free of her hold.

"Oh please! How long are you going to hide behind that dumb travelling excuse, huh? Well just so you know, Mr. Pokémon Master, I haven't been sitting by the phone all this time like some loyal growlithe puppy waiting for you to call; I'm a respected gym leader now with her own life and responsibilities, so see if I care!"

Ash sighed, his body going limp. "Misty…"

"No," she exhaled with no emotion whatsoever in her voice. "I don't know you anymore, Ash. Whatever you're here for, I can't help you, so just go."

It looked and sounded like a definitive end to the conversation, as she'd intended it to be. But Misty just couldn't find it in herself to walk away. Across from her, Ash was having the same problem, though for a markedly different reason. In his best friend's eyes he saw a complex mix of emotions; they danced and swirled, aptly illustrating her gradual shift from anger to something much more profound. The look of hurt highlighted the green in her viridian irises, and although he didn't particularly like to see her upset, the intense colour had him completely immobilised, entranced in a way he'd never quite been before…

"_Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss…!"_ the apparently suicidal Lily whisper-chanted.

That more than did the trick. Ash and Misty sprung apart within a second, turning their backs on each other with arms crossed and faces crimson. The Sensational Sisters cackled all the more at the pleasingly nostalgic sight.

"Hmph," Misty huffed, seemingly too agitated to bring the pain this time.

"Pikachupi?" A light tapping on her bare shin caused her to look down at the yellow mouse at her feet. She wordlessly bent down to cradle the affectionate pokémon in her arms, holding him tightly to her chest.

"Misty, I know I've been a lousy friend to you," Ash said solemnly. "I didn't realise it had been that long – really, I didn't! But hey, I'm here now, right? We can still try and make up for lost time before I leave again; whaddaya say?"

Misty turned her head slightly to the side, but purposely not so much as to meet his gaze.

"Oh for Mew's sake!" Daisy cried out. "Gee, sis, talk about, like, looking a gift horsea in the mouth! You've missed this guy like crazy – don't deny it, I can, like, see it in your face – and now you're going to turn him away? He said he's sorry, Misty! Also," she walked over and pinched the young man's cheek, "he looks _real _grown up now, don't you think?"

After a short moment, Misty sighed into Pikachu's fur. She hated it when any of her sisters actually talked sense. About missing him, of course…_definitely_ not the other thing…

"Fine," she grunted as she pulled Ash by the wrist in the direction of the living quarters, "but you're helping me with this cleaning. Come on, I need to change out of these clothes."

Violet and Lily squealed wickedly. "Ooh, taking him upstairs already, are we, Misty?" Violet grinned. "Gonna treat your boy toy to a little striptease?"

"Shut up!" she shouted back to them, her pale cheeks thoroughly alight.

"Yeah, yeah, just keep your bedroom door open, eh, girl?" Lily joined in. "And Ash…" she winked seductively at him, "if you, like, get bored of our little sis, _my_ room's just down the hall…"

A slam from the door upstairs was all the response they got.

* * *

The stairs led straight up to the living room, which Ash and Misty traipsed through in an uncharacteristic and undeniably awkward silence. As they reached the middle, Misty turned towards her 'guest', still appearing rather devoid of emotion.

"I'm gonna go change in the bathroom," she stated. "Stay here, and don't break anything."

A moment later, Ash and Pikachu were alone in the long and empty room. They sat down on one of the sofas arranged in a U-shape behind them, the former whistling absentmindedly. Ash being Ash, however, it wasn't long before boredom set in, and he soon found himself idly wandering around from corner to corner.

The upper east wing was like a bungalow of sorts: surprisingly small, but inviting in a nice, homely sort of way. He'd only been up here once before, almost eleven years ago during Misty's brief stint as a mermaid in her sisters' water show – but everything was still exactly as he remembered it. _I wonder if she's still got the costume_, he thought to himself before dismissing the image straight away with a hurried shake of his head.

Figuring Misty would be ages yet, Ash ventured out into the hall with Pikachu in tow. In contrast to the tiled floors of the public parts of the gym, the upstairs level was furnished with reddish brown carpet, and framed photographs hung daintily on the walls. Directly opposite him was one of two people he didn't recognise, though on closer inspection he guessed them to be Misty's parents (the woman's red hair was a dead giveaway).

A brief look in the guest rooms revealed nothing interesting – in fact, it looked as if they hadn't been used for quite some time. Tiptoeing back the way he came, Ash noticed a slightly ajar door at the other end of the hall. It had to be Misty's room, as she'd headed in that direction when she left. He chuckled furtively. _Misty wouldn't mind if I had a quick peek, right?_

He swung open the door and gasped in amazement. The room was…_tiny_. A wardrobe and a small desk were crammed snugly together in one corner, and the door scraped against the end of the bed as he opened it wider. It was far less than what a gym leader, his best friend, deserved – but then, her sisters had always treated her like dirt. Perhaps this was once the result of some cruel joke on their part.

A small wooden picture frame on the bedside table caught Ash's eye as soon as he entered the room. It was face-down, which struck him as odd, given the otherwise spotlessness of the place. He sidled up to the side of the bed, feet squashed in as far as they would go, but just as he began to extend his arm out to the object…

"Ash?"

Never had a quicker one-eighty been performed in human history. "Oh, er, Misty, I was just- oof!"

The air was knocked right out of him as Misty wrapped her arms around his waist and mashed her head into his chest. Ash stumbled backwards from the impact, panting ever so slightly. The embrace was strong, but not uncomfortably so, and once he realised what was going on, he felt himself relaxing almost completely.

"I'm sorry," she spoke into his jacket. "I didn't mean a lot of what I said just there. I guess I just needed a little while to process this."

She cleared her throat. "Thanks for coming to visit, Ash. Really, it's so great to see you."

They broke apart gently, and Ash's cheeks virtually caught fire when he took in his friend's new 'outfit': a royal blue bikini top and a pair of diminutive jean shorts.

"N-No problem," he smiled shakily.

"That being said," Misty folded her arms, "get out of my room before I have Politoed DoubleSlap you out."

Ash complied without protest.

"So…the aquarium, huh?" She nodded. "Bet I can get there first!"

He and Pikachu then tore past her in their haste to make it to the staircase. Misty just stood for a second, her eyes closed and her hands behind her back. A kind of nostalgic giggle slipped out from her throat. Ash had truly never changed in all his time away, and for that, she couldn't be more grateful.

Once down in the aquarium, Ash and Misty found, to their relief, that any animosity between them had simply vanished into thin air. The moment they got down to work, an innocent back-and-forth steadily grew into a full-blown conversation, and before they knew it, they were the best of friends again. Indeed, it was just like old times.

"And that's where we first met Alder," Ash continued from within the van-sized goldeen tank. "He's been the Unova League champion for decades. Really great guy – even if he kept calling me Ashton…"

On the other side of the glass, Misty burst out laughing. "A-Ashton?!" she wheezed. "Oh man, I've gotta remember that one! Hey, you missed a spot over there. Clean it up for me, will you, Ashton?"

"Not funny," he pouted. "Why have I gotta be inside this thing while you and Pikachu get to stay out there?"

"My gym, my rules. Serves you right for skipping out on me all these years."

"Hey, I wasn't skipping out on you! I just, er, well, got so caught up in my journey, and-"

"I know, Ash," she chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. Now hurry up; once we're done with this one we've got Psyduck's little wading pool to clean. Tracey's been helping me teach him to swim, you know. I never thought I'd say this, but I think we're almost there!"

The young man shivered involuntarily. "Oh yeah…" he said, more to himself than to her. "Professor Oak told me yesterday you'd invited Tracey to the gym. Does he, you know, come over often?"

"Yep, he visits a couple of times a week these days. He's been a great help."

"And he stays the night all those times?" Ash probed, a distinct urgency in his voice.

"More often than not, yeah. Why?"

Ash felt a flush of cold wash over him. "Well, um…" he hesitated, "just wondering, that's all. You know, since the guest room wasn't set up or anything, hehe."

"I'll thank you to not go snooping around in my rooms, Ketchum," Misty tutted. "And he doesn't sleep in there anyway, hasn't for years. If we're going to be related soon I can't very well treat him like a guest, now can I?"

"I guess you're right, Misty. After all, we've known Tracey for- HUH?!"

His mouth dropped open, and he quickly held it shut for fear that his somersaulting stomach would fall out of it. What was that she'd just said? Did it mean what he thought it meant? Just like that, there was that image again from this morning; he didn't know why it angered him, sickened him so, but it did, and he had to get to the bottom of it.

Misty beat him to it, however. "Wait, you haven't heard?! Oh my god, I was sure either Tracey or your mom would have told you the news already!"

_It can't be,_ he kept telling himself. But every word she was saying sounded more and more like a confirmation. And the smile she was wearing didn't exactly help matters. _Please be wrong about this_, _please be wrong about this…_

"Ash?"

Without responding, Ash refocused his eyes on the cloudy glass before him, then proceeded to scrub away at it as frantically and animatedly as possible.

"Done!" he shouted ten seconds later. "Now, where's the next one?"

He vaulted over the side of the tank, looking anywhere but at Misty as he waltzed on through the corridor. Inevitably, though, he only made it a few steps before something small and pink in his path sent him flying.

"Luv," it muttered dizzily.

"Caserin!" Misty cried. "Are you okay? What are you doing out of your pokéball? Ash, you stupid klutz, watch where you're going!"

The excitement of seeing an unfamiliar pokémon instantly snapped Ash out of…whatever that just was. "Hey, a luvdisc! I didn't know you had one of those, Misty!"

"His name is Caserin," she smiled. "I caught him when you were in Hoenn. Daisy's got one too: Luverin. They're madly in love."

She giggled girlishly at her last statement, but Ash didn't seem to notice. Currently, he was more preoccupied with the fact that Caserin was staring him right in the face – and _glowing_.

"Does he…always do that?" Ash looked up at Misty, who shook her head.

"No, I've…I've never seen this before," she whispered, walking closer.

"Pika!" Pikachu waved amicably. The levitating little love heart did not so much as blink.

"Luvdisc…" he murmured in what sounded like a mixture of joy and fascination.

Still sprawled on the floor, Ash shuffled into a cross-legged position and pulled out the high-tech Unova pokédex that had been digging into his ribs.

"Might as well make the most of this before I get my new Kalos one," he said to himself, pointing it at the inquisitive Caserin. Its dual screen slid into position, and a stock photo of the species in question appeared on the display.

"_Luvdisc, the Rendezvous Pokémon,"_ went its colourless voice. _"Luvdisc lives in the tropics, preferring to nest in warm, shallow seas. It is said that a couple finding this pokémon will be blessed with eternal love."_

With a gasp of instant understanding, Misty covered her mouth with her hands, turning away before Ash, Pikachu or Caserin could see the enormous blush on her face. Ash, meanwhile, simply shrugged.

"Huh. That's pretty cool."

As he got to his feet, Ash noticed a shape emerge from behind one of the empty tanks. Its tubby yellow hands were on its cheeks, and its wide beak was stretched into a knowing grin.

"Psyyyy," he quacked over at his mortified trainer.

Misty rushed towards her teasing pokémon and hoisted him up to eye level by his back feathers.

"Psyduck! Get back in your ball now!" she screamed. Still blushing like crazy, she added in a subdued snarl, _"And mind your own business!"_

"Whoa, Misty, take it easy," Ash intervened. "Hey, Psyduck. Long time, no see."

The addled duck stared at his hatted addressee in confusion. "Psy?"

"Hmph," Misty yielded, returning Psyduck to his pokéball before he could cause her any further embarrassment.

Ash cracked his neck with a small groan. "Misty, we've been cleaning for ages now. Can't we do something else? Ooh, hey, we should have a battle!"

"Welcome to my world, Ash," she said with a dry smile. "But sure, I'll battle you. I believe I heard my dear receptionist say you booked a challenge session in, ooh…three hours time, was it?"

With a wink, she thrust a mop into his hands and sauntered smugly away.

"Ha-ha, very funny, Misty," he scoffed – until it dawned on him. "Wait, where are you going? This is a joke, right? You can't be serious…oh come on, Misty! MISTYYY!"

* * *

"Well, Ash, fancy seeing you here," a rather-too-amused Misty purred upon seeing the exhausted young man stagger through the doors to the pool.

"Sadist," he puffed, the echo of the huge arena carrying it straight over to her.

"Ooh, that's a big word for you, Mr. Pokémon Master!" she mocked. "Careful you don't hurt yourself before our battle, hmm?"

Despite her attempts to wind him up, Ash couldn't help but break out into a grin. He knew from experience that Misty's flippant, sarcastic side was reserved only for him, and was relieved to see that in all this time she hadn't lost her edge.

It was now approaching five in the afternoon, and the boiling sun blazed through the high windows of the Cerulean gym pool, illuminating everything from the stands to the diving board to the crystal-clear body of water separating the gym leader from her worn-out challenger. Pikachu watched from the poolside with Misty's baby azurill.

"Pikapi! Pikachupi!" he cheered.

"You can't wish us both luck, Pikachu!" Ash countered. "Whose side are you on anyway?"

"Aww, leave him alone, I think it's sweet," Misty cooed. "Thanks, Pikachu!"

"Pi," he acknowledged bashfully.

The redhead locked eyes with Ash over the pool. "So, two-on-two alright with you?"

"You betcha, Mist!" he cried back, his energy returning to him in a heartbeat.

A familiar fluttering skipped around in Misty's chest. This was the first time Ash had called her that since he had been there. She'd almost forgotten how sweet it sounded coming from his mouth.

"Alright then…" she enlarged a pokéball in her hand and lightly kissed the surface, "go, Politoed!"

"Politoed, Politoed, Politoed!" the lime green Frog Pokémon chanted as it materialised on the floating platform.

In a similar move, Ash produced a pokéball of his own. "Leavanny, I choose you!"

As the flash of light faded, the spindly insectoid pokémon gave a graceful bow.

"Ladies first," Misty winked. "Politoed, Water Gun!"

A steady blast of water shot out from Politoed's mouth, hitting its unprepared opponent dead on and soaking it from head to toe. Leavanny just shook it off, however, largely unaffected.

"A grass pokémon, eh?" Misty deduced. "Seems you've learned some things after all, Ash!"

The focused young man didn't rise to her taunt. "Leavanny, Razor Leaf!"

"Jump and use Headbutt!"

As Leavanny fired dozens of sharp leaves across the pool, Politoed leapt at the last minute above the flurry, did a quick somersault in mid-air and landed back on the platform. It then proceeded to hop from pad to pad with its head down like a battering ram.

"Wait for it…" Ash said under his breath. The energetic frog was getting closer and closer, but his pokémon stood firm, awaiting his command.

"Leavanny, dodge to the side!"

At the last minute, Leavanny neatly swivelled its body around, narrowly avoiding the attack.

"Follow it up with X-Scissor!"

"Leava'_anny_!" it acknowledged in its peculiar 'drunken' voice. It raised its arms into a cross shape, then slammed them into Politoed's back in a harsh slashing motion. The force of the attack coupled with Politoed's ongoing momentum sent the pokémon flying into the water.

"Politoed!" Misty cried.

Ash watched as the water rippled around at his feet. The constant movement made it hard to pinpoint exactly where his opponent had disappeared to.

"Keep your eyes open, Leavanny," he forewarned.

"Leav…Leava…Leav_a_," it muttered with every turn on the spot it made.

"Getting antsy, Ash?" crooned Misty from the other end of the room.

"How about you quit stalling and find out?" he quipped back.

"Oh, we're not stalling," she said with a grin. "Now, Politoed!"

With a huge splash, Politoed sprung out of the pool behind the startled Leavanny.

"DoubleSlap!"

Just as it turned around, Leavanny was buffeted by quick strikes from the still-airborne Politoed. The final blow knocked it off-balance, and it teetered delicately on the end of the platform.

"Leav_aaaa_!" it yelped in shock.

"Alright, Politoed, one more Headbutt should do it!" Misty commanded.

"Poli!" it concurred, backing itself up to charge.

_Think, Ash, think,_ Ash's mind screamed at him. In a few seconds it would all be over. Unless…

"That's it! Leavanny, grab onto Politoed with your String Shot!"

The Nurturing Pokémon spewed out a line of sticky thread that immediately wrapped tightly around Politoed's arm. Though saved from falling into the pool, Leavanny took the full brunt of the incoming Headbutt attack, and flew up into the air taking its tethered attacker with it.

"Huh?" Misty exclaimed. "Politoed, break free!"

The two pokémon wrestled in mid-air. Politoed tried to bite through the glue-like substance, eventually managing to sever all but one bond. Ash, taking this as his cue, inhaled deeply.

"Leavanny, Energy Ball!"

Leavanny positioned itself underneath Politoed, a sphere of shining green energy forming from its mouth. When it reached the size of a grapefruit, the ball burst against the swirl on Politoed's chest, blasting the pokémon upwards like a shot from a cannon. A few seconds later, after Leavanny had elegantly landed on its feet, the fatigued Politoed dropped like a stone right into the middle of the pool.

"Oh no!" Misty called in alarm.

The motionless figure that surfaced thereafter was more than enough confirmation that Politoed was out for the count.

"Yeah!" Ash celebrated. "Way to go, Leavanny!"

"Leava'_anny_," it reciprocated.

"Great work, Politoed," Misty smiled. "You deserve a long rest."

After the red light from her pokéball had safely engulfed her tired pokémon, the young woman looked back over at Ash. "Well, I've gotta say, that was a pretty impressive move."

Ash grinned. "I've done a lot more training since we last battled together." The thought of this made him grin wider. "Don't think Psyduck's gonna pop out to save you like in the Whirl Cup, Misty, because I'm not aiming for his head and letting you win this time!"

"Oh, will you let that go already?!" she huffed. "And anyway, I'm way ahead of you there."

She pointed to her right, where the aforementioned duck was standing on his tiptoes to watch the fish in the tank under the stands.

"I let Mr. Troublesome out before every match now," she explained. "That way he can't jump out and sabotage my battles, and he gets a front row seat for all of them! Isn't that right, Psyduck?"

As he heard his name, Psyduck lost his balance and toppled over onto his back.

"Duck?" he squawked blankly.

"Anyway…" Misty swiftly continued when she heard Ash chuckling, "you're not gonna be laughing when you see who's up next, Ketchum!"

She detached another pokéball from her belt and, once again, brought it to her lips before throwing it. "Pokéball, go!"

The light that spilled out of the capsule gradually took on a monstrous, serpentine shape. When it finally died away, the tremendous weight of the roaring blue dragon caused great waves of water to slosh over the sides of the pool.

"Alright, Gyarados!" Ash beamed. "This is gonna be fun! Okay, Leavanny, Razor Leaf!"

Leavanny obliged, releasing a fresh batch of pointed foliage towards the intimidating Gyarados.

Neither Misty nor Gyarados flinched. "Flamethrower!" Misty shouted.

"Vanny?!" gulped Leavanny, as if knowing its fate was sealed.

From Gyarados's gaping maw came a terrifying screech, followed by a scorching plume of orange and red. It incinerated the Razor Leaf attack as soon as it made contact, and before Ash could react, his dual-type bug and grass pokémon was blanketed in the devastating quadruple-damage blast.

"Leavanny, no!" Ash cried out.

When the flames subsided, it came as no surprise that the charred Leavanny was lying in a crumpled heap completely incapacitated.

"Thanks, Leavanny. Return," he said glumly.

"Gyarados's Flamethrower comes in so handy against grass-types," Misty stated proudly. "It's our secret weapon."

Ash smirked. "Yeah, I bet that trick goes down a treat with your gym challengers."

His remark suddenly reminded Misty of all the children, like the one earlier that day, whose bug or grass pokémon she had mercilessly trounced with that very attack over the years. Seeing them get upset made her feel guilty every time, but at the end of the day, her gym wasn't the second strongest in Kanto for nothing.

"I don't go easy on them just like I'm not going easy on you," she retorted. "I'm waiting, Ash."

There was a syrupy, almost flirtatious tone to her voice, one that made Ash's heart skip a beat, but his mind sharply flicked back to their battle.

"Okay…go, Unfezant!"

Once released, the majestic bird spread her greyish wings in a show of power.

"Ooh, looks like it's flying versus flying this round!" Misty observed.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Wait, Gyarados is a flying-type?"

"Ugh," she sighed, holding her head à la Psyduck. _So much for him having learned anything_. "Hydro Pump, Gyarados!"

The Atrocious Pokémon arched his body back to summon a torrent of water from his belly.

"Unfezant, dodge it!"

The water rushed past Unfezant's ear as she took flight, hovering at eye level with her opponent.

"Keep going, Gyarados! Hydro Pump again!"

"Unfezant, fight through and use Aerial Ace!"

On Misty's command, Gyarados's huge burst of water turned to quick successive jets that provided something of an obstacle course for Unfezant to weave through. The latter swooped left and right, up and down, managing to get in fairly close with only a few minor clips from the Hydro Pump attacks. Without slowing down, the avian pokémon began to glow white as it nosedived towards its foe.

"RAAOOO!" wailed Gyarados upon contact. The attack was a direct hit, dealing a moderate amount of damage.

"Counter with Flamethrower!" Misty instructed.

But Gyarados did not move. His gaze was fixed on the entrance to the gym, visible through the double doors that Ash had left open. The temperamental serpent began to breathe heavily. His keen eyes never deceived him; yet, for but a passing moment, he thought he had just seen…

"Gyarados? Gyarados, what's wrong? Snap out of it!"

And snap out of it he did, much to her surprise. He turned his attention back to the pool with a vigorous growl, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Well, er, okay then," Misty stammered. "Flamethrower attack!"

Ash responded straight away. "Unfezant, blow the flames back with Gust!"

Flames erupted from Gyarados's mouth just as Unfezant began to violently beat her wings. The two attacks closed in on each other, but neither the former's fire nor the latter's air current could overpower the other.

"Just a little more, Gyarados!" Misty encouraged.

"You too, Unfezant!" Ash paraphrased. "Give it all you've got!"

For almost a minute, both pokémon clashed with fearsome tenacity – but Unfezant's furious wing flapping demanded a lot more energy from her than her opponent's fire spitting did from him, and pretty soon the force of her Gust attack began to peter out.

"Gyaaaaah!" she screeched as the flames singed the tips of her wings. The Proud Pokémon struggled for a while to maintain her altitude before the searing pain forced her to drop down into the water below.

"Unfezant, you okay to go on?" Ash asked concernedly.

"Ayyargh," she cawed with a curt nod.

"Big mistake going in the water, Ash," Misty sneered, her hands on her hips. "Gyarados, use Whirlpool!"

Gyarados jerked its body forwards to the centre of the pool, where it began to swim in rapid circles around the disorientated Unfezant. Once the whirlpool was self-sustaining, he glided back to his original position to watch his victim flail about in the maelstrom of his own making.

"Unfezant!" Ash shouted rather impotently.

What Misty hadn't counted on, however, was that despite the harshness of the attack, the immersion in water had a profoundly soothing effect on Unfezant's burnt wings, and soon the relieved bird was able to find a stable rhythm on the surface of the whirlpool.

"What was that, Mist?" Ash countered smugly, earning him an irritated glare.

He then looked back down to his pokémon. "Okay, Unfezant, give 'em a taste of your Air Cutter!"

One by one, Unfezant launched a barrage of compressed air pulses, each X-shaped projectile flying straight towards Gyarados's body. The enormous pokémon was knocked backwards a little by every subsequent hit.

"Nice job, Unfezant!" Ash praised. "Think you can manage one last Aerial Ace?"

"Kyaaaah!" she affirmed. Once again, a white glow enveloped her, and with one forceful flap of her wings, she commenced her aerial charge towards her foe.

Misty could sense what Ash was up to, and moved to counter immediately. "Hyper Beam, Gyarados!"

A small bead of orange energy started to swell inside the sea dragon's mouth. The immensely powerful attack took a few seconds to charge to its full capacity – coincidentally, around the same length of time Unfezant needed to reach her target. It was going to be close. Ash gritted his teeth, while Misty clenched her fists in suspense. Then, for a shadow of a second, their eyes met, a silent consensus that the fate of the battle was now out of their hands. All they could do was wait…and hope…

_BOOM!_

The two attacks met in an explosion of orange and white. Both trainers had to shield their eyes from the thick smoke that filled the arena, rendering the victor unknown for another few agonising moments. When the air finally cleared, two synchronised gasps ushered in a silence that neither Ash nor Misty quite knew how to break – though that may have been because the former was still looking all around in confusion. Then he looked down.

Unfezant was lying flat on her back at his feet.

"Argh, dammit!" he cursed. "It was so close too!"

Misty stopped congratulating her triumphant gyarados. "Now, Ash, what would your mom say if she heard you using language like that?"

In typical Ash-like fashion, the only thing he could think to do was stick his tongue out at her.

"Oh, don't be such a sore loser," she grinned as he returned Unfezant and made his way over to her. "I haven't had a battle that exciting in ages."

Ash wasn't really disappointed, however. In truth, he felt much the same. "Yeah, I kinda forgot how similar our battling styles are," he chuckled bashfully.

The young gym leader matched his awkward laughter with her own, and naturally, this brought the conversation to a swift grinding halt. Every so often they caught each other's eye, which became so excruciating after a while that Misty, in a clandestine effort to hide her blush, reached forward and snatched the hat off Ash's head.

"Ooh, I've never seen this before!" she teased as she perched it on top of her own head. "How many postcards did you have to send in for this one, eh?"

"Hey, give it back!" Ash whined. "My mom just made that for me!"

"Uh-uh, mommy's boy," she winked. "I think it suits me a lot better. Don't you think so, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" he approved from the sidelines.

Ash's faced reddened from the humiliation. "Misty, come on, quit playing around!"

"Make me," she sassed, holding the cap upwards out of his reach.

On the inside, Ash was grinning from ear to ear. Now there was a challenge if he'd ever heard one.

"Hey, I didn't know you'd caught a tentacruel!" he said in shock, his eyes looking behind her.

"Huh?"

She turned her head, falling for it hook, line and sinker. Ash took this as the perfect opportunity to grab her around the waist and tackle her down to the ground.

"Yaaahh! Ash, s-stop, get off!" she giggled uncontrollably. She squashed the hat underneath her, after which Ash resorted to tickling to try and pry it out (for the sake of her own sanity, she was thankful she'd put something else on over her bikini top before the battle…).

Gyarados swivelled himself around to watch the playful scene between his mistress and her hatless human companion. But in doing so, his sharp eyes went wandering yet again, this time to the top of the stands. The shape passed by like a shadow, a fleeting spectre, but he knew what he saw, and his highly trained mind was sent careening into overdrive. Memories of those two – no, _three_ – figures made his blood boil, his nostrils flare, his scales quiver. No longer would they bring harm to he and his family. They had to be extinguished here and now, and he was going to be the one to do it.

"RAAAAAAOOO!" came the most guttural of shrieks the Atrocious Pokémon could manage. Both fire and water sputtered from its mouth as it thrashed around in an inconsolable frenzy.

"Gyarados?!" cried Misty, getting to her feet.

The enraged serpent spared a passing glance at the two young adults during its rampage.

"Gyarados, wait, we were just playing! Look, I'm fine, see? It was just a game! You need to calm down, Gya-whoa!"

Misty ducked her head, narrowing avoiding Gyarados's swinging tail.

"Misty, what's gotten into him?" Ash shouted.

"I don't know!" she replied, both panic and frustration in her voice.

"Try returning him!"

She nodded, reaching for her pokéball. "Gyarados, return!"

The red light shot towards its target, but Gyarados simply shook it off.

"Oh no, not this again!" she exclaimed.

"What do we do now?" asked Ash.

Before Misty could even hazard a guess, Gyarados spiralled his upper body around like a spinning top, crashing his head violently into the base of the diving board.

The dented metal creaked and groaned. Ash and Misty were dead silent, powerless to do anything at this point. With every metallic squeak came a new droplet of dread in their stomachs, a feeling of nausea that made it impossible to predict what would happen next. When it eventually came to a stop, they both let out a sigh of relief. Though this turn of events had seemingly come out of nowhere, at least the worst appeared to be over now.

That was, until Gyarados slammed into the pillar a second time.

"Oh god, it's coming down!" Ash yelled, instinctively grabbing Misty by the arm. "Get back!"

The structure hung on by a thread of bent metal, wobbling from side to side, before giving way completely and beginning to tip almost in slow motion over to the left side of the pool. Ash and Misty, on the right side, were in no immediate danger. However…

"PSYDUCK!" Misty screamed, her darkened eyes wide like saucers. "PSYDUCK, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Psy?"

The unaware duck looked around for but a second. Mistress was there, as was the Hatted One. Their arms were flapping like sky rattata, and Mistress was leaking from the eyes. Then came a crash, a tingle…and everything went dark.

* * *

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" whimpered Misty, tears blurring her vision.

Beside her, Ash dug frantically through the mess of warped metal at their feet. "Ahhhfff," he winced every time he caught his hand on a sharp piece of debris.

"Psyduck!" Misty bellowed into the wreckage. "Psyduck, can you hear me? Say something!"

Pikachu, who had rushed over in the wake of the incident, reached up to touch the distressed girl's hand with his paw. She looked down at him with a forced smile, then went back to obsessively surveying the scene.

"Please be alright, you stupid duck," she whispered to herself.

At that moment, Ash's head emerged from inside the ruptured pillar.

"Misty, I see him! Quick, help me lift this!"

Her eyes snapped upwards, and she leapt to her feet. At Ash's instruction, she placed her hands underneath a thick metal panel, watching him do the same on the other side.

"Ready?" he said. "One, two, _three_!"

Their knuckles were white around the extremely heavy sheet. With a chorus of strenuous groans, the two puffing pokémon trainers managed to slowly edge the object upwards, wisps of dust spilling out from a dark opening underneath.

"Now, Pikachu, g-grab Psyduck!" Ash panted. Pikachu immediately darted into the hole, disappearing for but a second before dragging out with him a motionless yellow body. As soon as he was clear, Ash and Misty let the slab thud back down to the floor, crying out in exhaustion.

Misty knelt down in front of her battered pokémon. His feathers were speckled with dust and grease, and his beady eyes were shut tight.

"I told you to…get out of the w-way," she sobbed, her tears splashing onto his bill. "Oh, Psyduck…"

Ash placed a hand on her shoulder. "We need to get him to the pokémon centre, quickly."

She nodded, still clutching Psyduck tightly. Moving to stand, she stroked his head in a motherly sort of manner, her pale fingers flattening down his ruffled plumage. When she suddenly felt moisture on her fingertips, she gasped sharply, and looking down only confirmed to her the image she had instantly imagined.

"Ash…his head," she choked out. There was an immense gash to the right of his black comb, about an inch in width and stretching down to just below his eye. The area around it was purple and swollen, and a small trickle of blood steadily oozed from the centre of the wound.

As more tears escaped Misty's eyes, the equally shaken Ash turned her around to face him. "Pokémon centre, Misty. Now."

The young woman did not need to be told a third time. She lifted the unconscious Psyduck fully up into her arms, but only made it one step before a peculiar feeling stopped her in her tracks.

"What is it, Misty?" Ash asked urgently.

"I…can't move." She struggled for a moment, but to no avail. Her limbs felt strained, like something was pulling on them from behind, and a kind of staticky sensation caressed her entire body. It was then that Misty felt a slight stirring from the pokémon in her hold.

"_Zzhhhyy…"_

"Psyduck?" she murmured.

"Pika chu?" repeated Pikachu worriedly.

The stirring gradually turned to writhing, and his nonsensical droning became more and more coherent.

"_Pzzyy…jrugck…"_

By this point, Misty could move again, albeit very stiffly, as if caught in a fierce wind. She made another dash for the exit only to jump in fright as Psyduck began to convulse.

"Do something!" she shouted at Ash. As he moved in, however, he found he could not get close. His arm felt 'repelled' almost like a magnet; the harder he tried to reach out, the stronger the force became.

"Is Psyduck doing this?" he cried above the duck's ramblings.

But his answer came seconds later, when an earth-shattering drone forced them to cover their ears in pain:

"_Psyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…"_

The voice had an otherworldly echo to it, increasing in volume and pitch from a bone-chillingly low starting point.

"Psyduck, snap out of it, please!" Misty begged with tears returning to her eyes.

"…_yyyyyyyyyyyyy…"_

The convulsing stopped, and Psyduck slowly floated out of Misty's arms, levitating in place before them.

"…_yyyyyYYYYYYY…"_

His cry had reached a deafening pitch. He raised his arms up, heralding an eerie, momentary silence. And that was when his eyes shot wide open.

"…_DUCK!"_

Ash, Misty, Pikachu and Azurill were blown backwards across the gym, landing hard on the ridged pool floor.

"Owww…" Ash coughed.

Misty scooted over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He picked himself off the ground. "Wh-What was that?!"

The redhead squinted over at her injured Psyduck. She'd seen fragments of his untapped psychic abilities before – the transcendent voice, the pure blue glow of his eyes, the awesome power of his attacks – but this was something else entirety. It didn't inspire, it didn't delight…no. This scared her.

"His headache," she whispered dazedly, "it must be out of control…"

"Pikapi!" squealed Pikachu, pointing frantically forwards.

"_Psyyyy-duck!"_ he boomed again.

A spherical shockwave of transparent energy pulsed outwards from his body. It expanded endlessly, smashing against the ground, the walls, the pool (which more than calmed Gyarados down), and the high ceiling. The latter made a sickening cracking noise at the second of contact.

"Psyduck!" Misty screamed. "Please stop this, Psyd-urghff!"

Another shockwave knocked the wind right out of her. Above her, tiny rays of light shone down from the haunting gaps in the ceiling, the pieces crumbling more with each passing second.

"Misty, this whole place is gonna come down!" Ash warned. "We need to get out of here!"

"NO!" she bellowed. "I'm not just going to leave him!"

As if by fate, the section of ceiling above them gave way, sending huge clumps of stone plummeting towards them.

"Look out, Misty!" Ash cried. He instinctively dove towards her, pushing her through the doors and into the foyer just as the lethal precipitation made impact in their previous spot.

When Misty opened her eyes, Ash was lying firmly on top of her. He crawled off before she could see to it herself and held onto her by the shoulders.

"Misty, are you okay?" She nodded, noting the concern in his eyes.

He looked back at the doors, which were now essentially barricaded with rocks. "We're not going to leave him, Misty, I promise. But we need to get all the other pokémon out first!"

Hearing those words both reassured and alarmed her. With all that was going on, she'd barely even thought of how many dozens of pokémon were in danger right now.

"Okay," she stated resolutely. Climbing to the top of the rock pile, she located her fainted Gyarados and returned it without a second thought.

Ash then beckoned her back over to the aquarium stairs. "Let's split up and meet back here when we've got everyone."

The winding corridors of the aquarium were a wreck. Each tremor caused untold amounts of damage to the tanks and enclosures housed down there, not to mention their shaken inhabitants. Five minutes later, Ash, Misty and Pikachu (with Azurill trailing behind) reconvened at the foot of the stairs, each carrying an armful of pokéballs.

"Is that everyone?" Ash asked.

Misty did a quick count. "There's one missing!" she panicked. After a moment of tense thought, she clicked her fingers. "Caserin! He hasn't been in his pokéball since this morning! Oh god, where is he?"

Ash dumped his pokéballs in the container they'd left by the front entrance. "Let's go find him!" he exclaimed, grabbing Misty's arm and running back through the aquarium.

"Caserin!" they shouted. The lights were flickering wildly, making it very hard to see. "Caserin, where are you?"

"Luv!" came a weak cry from down the hall.

"Come on!" Misty yelled, now leading Ash by the arm.

In a cramped office on the south side of the building, they found the petrified luvdisc tangled up in some netting and unable to break free.

"Just stay still, Caserin. We're gonna get you out," Misty smiled meekly.

"Pikachu, Iron Tail," ordered Ash. The electric mouse stepped forward, his tail glowing white, but just as he readied his swing, another shake of the building caused him to lose his balance and slice through a nearby file cabinet.

"Are you crazy?!" Misty barked at him. "We're trying to save him here, not cut him in half!"

Ash knew this was not the time to argue. Instead of disputing it, he knelt down next to the ensnared Caserin and began to tug on the tough mesh.

"Don't worry, Caserin," he said in a similar tone to Misty's earlier, "I'll have you out of here in no time."

But Caserin seemed preoccupied. As with before, his heart-shaped body began to glow a warming pink hue, and his beady eyes were riveted to Ash's in a hazy, almost infatuated gaze.

"Luvdisc." He shrugged off Ash's hands, earning him a pair of confused looks.

"Caserin?" Misty questioned.

The second after, Caserin breathed in deeply, then fired an impressive stream of ice onto his wiry shackles. The netting froze instantly, and with one rapid movement, crumbled to nothing below its floating former captive.

"Alright, Caserin!" Ash cheered measuredly. Misty swiftly returned him to his pokéball and turned to her friend.

"Psyduck," she simply stated, to which Ash nodded in understanding. They bolted around to the stage door of the arena, entering carefully through the unobstructed staff entrance.

"Oh my god," Ash gawked once they were back upstairs. The pool was practically filled with huge boulders, the seating in the stands was in pieces, and almost all of the roof had broken away, causing the evening sunlight to splurge across the otherwise morbid scene.

Misty was not prepared to wait any longer. "Psyduck!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. The levitating psychic turned lifelessly to face her.

"You've got to stop this, Psyduck!" she persisted. "I can help you if you just let me in!"

She made a move to close the gap, but a suffocating blast of wind brought her to her knees.

The saddening display prompted Ash to release Charizard and beckon him close.

"Charizard, get Pikachu, Azurill and the other pokémon out of here," he said flatly. The gallant pokémon nodded with complete seriousness.

"Pika pikachu!" Pikachu contested immediately.

"Don't argue, Pikachu!" he snapped back.

Pikachu's ears drooped, but he knew his trainer had a point. He helped Azurill up onto Charizard's back before hopping on himself, and soon the three pokémon had safely escaped through the hole in the roof.

"You go too, Ash," Misty said without looking at him. "Psyduck is my responsibility."

"I'm not going anywhere," he replied confidently.

Misty took in a deep breath, summoning all of her inner strength as she prepared to engage Psyduck a second time.

"Look at me, Psyduck," she said as calmly as she could. The energy blasts pounded on her skin, but she would not back down.

"You know me," she continued, moisture playing at her eyes once again, "and I know you. And this isn't you, Psyduck. Please come back to me."

Ash stood behind his determined friend, catching her every time she stumbled. Psyduck watched the two with no decipherable expression, his features not so much as twitching while Misty soldiered on.

"I know you don't want to be doing all this…but we can help. Nurse Joy will give you the best treatment around; she'll have you back to your old dorky self in no time, you'll see!"

The force became more painful with every step she took. As she got within a metre of the pokémon, the young woman could barely keep her eyes open.

"I'm not leaving you, Psyduck," she half-said, half-cried. "I know I give you a hard time, but it's only because of how much I care about you. Come with me. We can fix this…"

Her words trailed off as she started to lose consciousness. She was so close now. Psyduck finally reacted, drawing in his arms as if to charge up a powerful attack. His gaze was locked with hers, and just for a second, as she stared at his pupil-less eyes, she could have sworn she saw a peculiar flicker in their ominous blue glow. In that moment, he had looked straight into her, his eyes sad and sorrowful, a look of sincere emotion that passed by like a hoppip on the wind.

"Psyduck…"

Misty reached out, only for Psyduck to close his eyes and mutter indistinctly. A lone tear, bright blue in colour, ran slowly down his beak. Before Ash and Misty's eyes blinked an unnatural flash of white, and suddenly they were outside on the front path of the gym.

It took a while for the pair to find their bearings. Misty, still in her outstretched pose, fell forwards onto the grass, but soon jumped back up and pelted towards the gym.

"Oh no you don't!" she growled through her tears. "Don't you dare do this to me, you dumb duck!"

But as she said that, a terrifying crackling noise echoed out from within the crumbling stone dome, halting her movement instantaneously. Looking forward, Misty watched helplessly as a web of airy tendrils burst forth from the centre of the building, penetrating through every inch of the exterior and then suspending the separated pieces in mid-air like a kind of concrete snow globe.

Ash caught up to Misty, and without thinking, they grasped each other around the shoulders in both fear and shock. Neither wanted to stand here and do nothing – but at this stage, there was nothing else that could be done, and deep down they both knew that. With another harrowing rattle, the tenuous rock sphere began to collapse in on itself, each object imploding as though being sucked into a black hole. The wind it produced was fierce, throwing up grass, leaves, dust and smoke into the air, and though the stomach-turning sounds could still be heard, everything was soon obscured in this thick, impenetrable veil.

"PSYDUCK!" Misty wailed in floods of futile tears.

A final shockwave sent a splash of blue spiralling off into the air. The smoke cleared, the dust settled, and the two wordless friends dropped limply to the ground.

The Cerulean gym was gone.


	3. II: Home Away From Hole

CHAPTER 2: Home Away From Hole

Her arm was bright red at this point. It ached and burned, but she would not stop pinching it. This was all just a bad dream; it had to be. Any minute now, she was going to wake up in her staryu pyjamas, throw her alarm clock across the room, yell at her sisters for leaving the hall light on all night, and then go about her day as usual. Plus, Ash Ketchum of all people had come to Cerulean City specifically to visit _her_ – how on earth could this be real?

And yet, it was, for that minute never came. Before her on the coffee table was a generous bowl of soup, untouched and barely even looked at, and though the TV was showing a romantic film she would normally have been engrossed in, her glazed eyes could not distinguish actor from scenery. All she could think about were those gut-wrenching sounds of the gym being ripped apart, the screams of her terrified pokémon echoing through the halls, the cold blue eyes of the one who caused it all…

This waiting was maddening. How hadn't she heard anything yet? Only ten minutes ago had she stopped pacing around, and even then only for fear that she would wear a groove in Delia's new carpet. There was nothing she could have done if she'd stayed, and she accepted that now, but being here when her pokémon needed her the most – it still felt selfish, like a betrayal they themselves weren't even aware of. She shut her eyes tightly. Her poor Gyarados, Caserin…Psyduck…

"Misty, dear, I've found some of Ash's old clothes for you."

When her vision refocused, Misty saw Delia standing over her with a neatly folded pile of old T-shirts and jeans.

"It's not much, but I thought they might do until we can go and get you some more clothes at the store," Delia suggested. "And your sisters are welcome to look through them too; that is, if they'd be willing to wear this sort of thing…"

"Thanks," she uttered purely out of habit.

The doting woman let out a truly saddened sigh. "Oh, Misty, I wish there were more I could do to help you."

She placed the clothes down on the free sofa cushion and leaned over to kiss the top of the forlorn girl's head. Misty began to tear up instantly, but tried her hardest not to let any of them fall.

"I'll let you get some peace now," Delia chuckled lovingly. "If you need anything, I'm just in the kitchen, okay?"

As she turned to leave, Misty suddenly felt rather conflicted. While admittedly not much company at this current time, she certainly appreciated the distraction Delia's presence offered her from her nightmarish thoughts. To her left, she noticed a spoon of soup hovering close to her mouth, attached to which was a stiff-jointed, marionette-like arm. A small speck dripped onto her bare thigh, but she was too numb to feel any pain from it.

"Mimey, aren't you supposed to be helping me with the washing up?" Delia called over in a lighthearted 'warning' tone.

"Mr. Mime!" the peculiar pokémon acknowledged cheerfully, abandoning the spoon and wobbling over to her side.

The kitchen door clicked shut a few feet behind her. Realising she was back in the company of herself, Misty tilted her head backwards on the sofa to stare lazily up at the ceiling. For the longest time, she traced the maze-like wallpaper pattern with her eyes, imagining herself slaloming through the zigzagging lines and sliding along the smooth swirls without a care in the world. It was calming, restful, a much-needed catharsis for all the upset she had been subjected to that day. That was, until she stumbled upon a corner section resembling the ghostly appendages that had laid waste to her home, and put a stop to the activity within the second.

Too tired to move, yet too anxious to sit still. The sensation was strangling, a purgatorial contradiction that dulled all her senses while simultaneously making her hyperaware of her surroundings. A familiar floral scent wafted over from the pile of clothes to her right, which, despite her best efforts, eventually soothed her enough to reclaim some of her former composure. To Misty, the gentle fabric softener aroma was synonymous with the Ketchum household; Delia smelt of it, as did Mimey to some extent, but where she remembered it from the most were her days travelling the world with Ash. He'd always complain that it was "too girly", and she'd always laugh, or get annoyed, depending on how the day had gone. Turning her head towards it, she picked up on a note of something else in the mix, something heartier and less artificial. There was a pleasing kind of 'warmth' about it, if it even made sense to describe a smell in such a way. Nostalgia washed over her instantly, coupled with a tingling feeling that expressed itself across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. But just as she felt the urge to lean in closer, a sound from the next room made her jolt in surprise.

"Just had another call on the videophone," Ash stated plainly. "It was May this time. She was crying so loud I could barely tell what I was saying to her."

Misty sighed into her hands, but kept her eyes on the floor.

"How're you holding up?" he tried again. Pikachu bounced onto the clothes pile next to her and nudged her arm with his tail.

"Pikachupi?" he purred in concern.

"I'm fine," she droned, hoping that would shut them both up.

"You should really turn your pokégear on, Mist," Ash suggested softly. "Everyone's worried sick about you. Iris and Cilan even called to check up earlier, and they've never even met you."

Apparently still not getting the message, Ash shoved the clothes aside and sat down beside her. "And why are you watching this? Isn't that only gonna make you feel worse?"

In her fluctuating daze, Misty hadn't even noticed that the film on the TV had ended. She followed Ash's pointing finger along to the screen, upon which was a newsreader standing in front of a before-and-after image of her destroyed gym.

"_No casualties have been reported thus far; however, we have just received word that at least one pokémon is confirmed to be in critical condition and is receiving urgent treatment at Cerulean City Pokémon Ce-"_

Ash jumped as Misty's fist slammed down onto the 'standby' button of the remote.

"Misty," he whispered, tentatively but with complete sincerity, "you can't keep this all to yourself. I know how much you've lost, but-"

"Do you?" she snarled, unable to stop herself. After a disappointed sigh, Ash spent an uncharacteristically long time forming his next words before he vocalised them.

"Look, I guess what I'm trying to say…is that you don't have to do this alone, you know?" He gave her a small smile. "Me, Mom, Pikachu, all our friends…we're here for you."

Though she was still looking away, Ash raised up his hand, letting it hang above her shoulder for a second or two. Misty soon felt his gloved touch on her tender skin, and jumped to her feet in frustration.

"I'm going for a walk," she exhaled rapidly, turning towards the front door and shutting it firmly behind her.

Normally, this wouldn't have deterred Ash for even a second, but although he still had every intention of following her, he suddenly found himself in two minds about doing so. He'd seen Misty sad plenty of times before, occasionally even to the point of crying, but never like this. Never in the whole time he'd known her had she seemed so…lost.

A hand on his shoulder halted his course across the living room.

"No, Ash," his mother said. She was smiling, though there were tears in her eyes. "Let her go. After all that's happened, I think Misty deserves this time to herself…"

* * *

_ **Three hours earlier…** _

"Alright, get back! GET BACK, I SAID! This site is off-limits to everyone except authorised personnel; return to your homes immediately! That means you, sir! No-one crosses this line!"

Officer Jenny's aggressive orders were all but lost in the rabble that had amassed at the gates to the Cerulean gym. A ring of hazard tape surrounded the entire area, coupled with lines of police vehicles along the grass that obscured a lot of the scene from the prying public. Misty, sat in the back of an ambulance behind the 'roadblock', could only guess how many hundreds of people were out there, all no doubt hoping to catch a glimpse of something gruesome and brag of it later to their friends. But right now, that was the least of her worries.

She hugged the blanket the paramedics had placed around her closer to her body. Its rustling caught the attention of the concerned pokémon trainer sitting beside her, and she turned her head away the second their eyes met.

"Why do I have to wear this thing?" she grumbled impotently.

"I think the doctor guy said it's for the shock," Ash recalled from their recent medical examination.

Misty snorted disdainfully. "Yeah? Well what's their excuse?"

Across the lawn was another ambulance, around which were Daisy, Lily and Violet, having returned from whatever expensive shopping trip or pampering session they had been on; at this stage, she really didn't care enough to ask. The younger two were holding onto each other and bawling their eyes out, while Daisy was standing worriedly on her tiptoes, trying to peer over the row of police cars as if looking out for something.

"The only thing they're in shock over is having lost all their jewellery," she rasped, her voice steeped in venom.

Ash let out a morose sigh. It had taken so long for Misty to calm down after it happened; neither paramedic nor policewoman was able to console her, with one group having to literally hold her back to keep her from jumping straight down into the wreckage. Though it pained him immensely to see her like that, Ash had almost begun to wish she'd revert to that stage again, if only to spare her the agony of venting through anger and spite.

"Misty…" he spoke gutturally, eyes fixed on the sullen young woman beside him.

"And what's their problem?!" She pointed behind her at the crowd of onlookers. "I bet they're loving this! Nothing like a bit of gossip, eh?"

After another few similar remarks, the distraught redhead went strangely quiet, at which point Ash decided to cut to the heart of the issue.

"Misty, they'll find him," he said with absolute confidence. "They've been down there ever since they arrived; they must be close now."

He squeezed her hand in reassurance, and although she remained motionless, the action sent a trace of warmth through her otherwise catatonic body. Ash was about to speak up again, but was distracted by a sudden rush of shadows flickering past him.

"Tracey!" Ash called over, casting a side glance at Misty to gauge her reaction. To his surprise, she still hadn't moved a muscle.

The pokémon watcher kept running, however, barrelling over to the other ambulance where Misty's sisters were sat.

"Tracey, over here!" he shouted once again, only to watch his old friend crash straight into Daisy's waiting arms.

"Oh, Tracey!" she sobbed into his oversized shirt.

"I got here as soon as I could," he replied in a shaky tone.

Ash watched the pair incredulously. What on earth was he seeing here? Tracey and Daisy…hugging? He wasn't even aware they knew each other!

"Thank god you're alright," Tracey breathed, his eyes shut tight.

"I'm f-fine. You're, like, not getting rid of me th-that easily."

This was odd. Tracey was usually so docile, so unassuming…and Daisy, well, Ash honestly didn't realise she had this sort of emotional range.

"Guess you'll have to, like, take a rain check on your next visit, huh?" she laughed feebly.

"We'll figure something out," he responded in kind before turning serious. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

If Ash had been confused before, what really threw him for a loop was seeing the watcher and the Waterflower lean in for a long, lingering kiss.

_Am I imagining this?_ he asked himself. Some kind of side effect of overexposure to psychic energy, maybe? He'd known crazier things to happen. But the longer he looked, the less stock he put in that theory. _There's gotta be something going on between them_, he concluded, _but then what was all that stuff Misty was saying earlier, about him helping her and staying over and everything? Unless…_

A tight knot formed in Ash's already queasy stomach. As if Misty didn't have enough on her plate today already.

"So, what the heck happened here?" he heard Tracey ask. "The news has been spouting so many crackpot theories that I don't know what to believe."

"We, like, weren't there," Violet hiccupped, thick streaks of mascara running down the length of her face. "Ask those two."

Tracey turned his head to where Ash and Misty were sitting and promptly darted over.

"I'm so sorry, guys, I didn't see you!" he expressed sincerely. "Are you both alright?"

"Yeah, we're okay," Ash answered for the two of them.

"What…I mean, how…?"

"Well, er, it's kind of a long story," the pokémon trainer admitted. "You see, we were having a battle, and-"

"It was Psyduck."

Her subdued voice was deep and multifaceted: the three words carried little to no energy, but through them ran an unmistakable vein of hurt and anxiety. Tracey's widening eyes flicked to the right.

"Psyduck?" he repeated. "What do you mean?"

Misty looked up, giving her two friends their first unobstructed view of her tear-stained face. "His head, it was…" she struggled to say, "…had to…get the pokémon out…"

"Wait a minute…" he stopped her as he took a moment to piece together the fragments. "You're saying Psyduck did this?! That's…I mean, I've seen what he can do with a strong enough headache, but this…I-I don't…"

Ash stood up. "It's true, Tracey. We watched it happen – right before he teleported us outside."

"Wow…" he exhaled dizzily. "Well, at least you weren't in there when it came down. Psyduck got out too, right? Tell me he's not-"

But the look on their faces said it all.

"Oh my god," he gasped. Without warning, he turned around and sprinted towards the gym, stopping only when he reached a second, more pronounced line of police tape.

Ash instinctively began to follow, looking over his shoulder to see that Misty had made a move to stand also. They stopped at Tracey's side, and as the sight below them came into focus, the three former travelling companions found themselves powerless to do anything but stand and stare.

This was the first time Ash had been this close since before help had arrived. The image had stayed with him to an unsettling degree, but no mere memory could be as horrifying as laying eyes on the real thing for a second time. Where the gym used to be was a cavernous, dome-shaped crater that sloped down several metres into the ground. The shape of it was unnaturally smooth, its edges cut with impossible precision, as if a perfect sphere of earth and sky had somehow been snatched out of existence. It was also notably off-centre, leaving a few slivers of the underground level on the fringes of the hole largely untouched. If his coordinates were right, he estimated that the centre of the 'implosion', as it now seemed to make more sense to call it, had been somewhere around the back of the pool area. The left side, beneath the bleachers – right where Psyduck was injured…

"Ash! Misty!"

No sooner had Ash torn his eyes away from the scene than an arm wrapped itself tightly around his neck.

"Goodness, my poor babies!" Delia wailed with both Ash and Misty virtually in a chokehold. "You could have been killed! Do you know how worried I was? Oh, but I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Can't…breathe…" the slightly blue Ash spluttered.

When her hold eventually loosened, her two former captives were surprised to see Professor Oak and Alexa standing behind her, a few paces away.

"Confound it, Tracey!" admonished the professor, his face flushed and his grey hair dishevelled. "Did I not tell you to slow down back there? Not all of us can weave through a crowd with your youthful dexterity, you know."

Tracey hung his head in embarrassment, but thankfully it seemed his mentor had quickly forgotten about his fatigue.

"Egad…" he said breathily as he took in his ruined surroundings. "What in the world could have caused this?"

As Tracey attempted to elucidate, Misty felt a cold chill spiral up and down her spine. If she had to listen to that haunting explanation one more time she was either going to scream or throw up – or an unsightly combination of both. Shifting back towards the hole that used to be her home, her eyes landed on the bomb disposal unit desperately trying to push their way through the nest of boulders at the bottom. Their thick hazmat suits were intimidating, but as soon as she'd heard the term 'psychic residue' floating around, she knew she had to be grateful the police had decided to call in the experts. Even so, this was little comfort when they seemed no closer to finding her poor Psyduck. She prayed he was still alive – or even there at all.

"Misty, I'm so sorry about all this."

A soft voice jarred her from her thoughts just as a fat tear rolled down her cheek. The hand of the person in question reached over to wipe it away.

"Delia, I…" she started, then cut herself off in favour of rushing into her mother figure's arms.

"There, there." Delia stroked the back of the girl's orange hair. "That's it, just let it out."

"I'm so w-worried about him," she whimpered.

"I know you are, dear. We all are. It's okay."

"I sh-should never have let him out of his p-pokéball. This is all my f-fault…"

"Oh, Misty, how can you say that? Nobody in your position could have predicted this; you expect far too much of yourself!"

"Yeah, Mist," Ash joined in over Delia's left shoulder. His innocent expression somehow made Misty feel calmer for a brief moment. "No-one's blaming you for anything. You were really brave facing up to Psyduck like that."

Misty looked straight into his eyes. Ash Ketchum paying her an actual compliment? Though she could easily chalk it up to stress and adrenaline, hearing something other than a sarcastic comment or scathing remark from him was always as pleasant as it was rare.

"Th-Thanks, Ash," she said with a watery smile.

"Come on, let's get you something to drink," Delia suggested, holding Misty around the shoulders as she began to walk them back to the ambulance.

"Keep clear, keep clear! We have located the missing pokémon! Repeat: missing pokémon is being brought to the surface! Urgent medical attention required!"

Misty's stomach vaulted with every word the megaphone spewed out. From the pit emerged a number of workers, each struggling to clamber up the near-vertical incline due to their cumbersome garb. They threw down a length of cord and gradually began to pull up a rectangular, frame-like object on the other end. Although its blinding aura made it hard to identify straight away, Misty soon saw it to be a stretcher, and when a glimpse of yellow flashed over at her from within the azure glow, she shook herself out of Delia's arms and bolted towards the edge of the crater as fast as she possibly could.

"Psyduck!" she cried, tears returning to her eyes.

"Whoa there, ma'am, it's too dangerous to get any closer," said a faceless workman blocking her way.

"I'll show you dangerous if you don't let me through right now!" she screamed at him. Even behind his mask, the man seemed taken aback.

"It's alright, cadet," a compassionate voice sounded out from behind her. A second later, Nurse Joy of the Cerulean City pokémon centre stepped into her field of view. "Ms. Waterflower is the Cerulean gym leader, and this pokémon belongs to her. She has my permission to stay."

The worker nodded somewhat inscrutably before going about his business elsewhere.

"Thank you," Misty whispered to the caregiver she had come to know quite well over the years.

After a smile of acknowledgement, Nurse Joy crouched beside her battered patient with a stethoscope and another high-tech device that Misty did not recognise.

"I'm so sorry, Psyduck," Misty mumbled almost inaudibly. Through the intense light, she could make out a series of cuts and scratches across his whole body, all radiating out from the tremendous head wound that had set in motion this entire calamitous situation.

"Is he…?" she hated to ask, but felt it couldn't wait any longer.

"Yes, he's alive," Joy said flatly. Misty sighed with such intensity that it caused her sides to ache.

"…but his life signs are extremely weak. Something seems to be interfering with my equipment, so I can't get an accurate readout here. Hold on."

From a case on the ground next to her, the pink-haired woman produced a syringe filled with translucent liquid. She flicked the needle a couple of times, then injected the solution into Psyduck's arm, taking extra care to avoid touching him with her bare skin. In the space of a few seconds, the blue glow around him had almost completely dissipated.

"What was that?" Misty asked.

"Just a mild sedative. For pokémon with psychic traits, the mind can remain active long after the body stops functioning."

"Can I…?" the young woman made a move towards him only to have her hand slapped lightly away.

"No, no, mustn't touch," Joy warned in a kind of apologetic manner. She looked back at her handheld device, which was now flashing and beeping.

"I've never seen anything like this. The cave-in certainly explains the bruising and lacerations, but…that can't be the whole story. This…'energy', whatever it is, it's not natural, and frankly, it scares me. How could you let your pokémon get into a condition like this?"

Misty had seen many members of the prolific Joy family lose their tempers before, and every one of those times had something to do with the mistreatment of pokémon. That said, she never imagined she'd one day find herself on the receiving end of it.

"I couldn't help it!" she insisted, more upset than angry. "It all happened so fast, and-"

"Well, in any case, there's no sense in worrying about that now," Nurse Joy interrupted with a sigh. "I need to get him to the pokémon centre immediately."

She nodded. "I'll come with you!"

"No, I think you'd be better off staying here with your family and friends."

"What?! But I can't just leave him!"

The sympathetic nurse placed a hand on her shoulder. "Misty, he's going to need intensive treatment. There's no telling how long that will take, and I'm sure Officer Jenny will want to question you and your sisters at some point. I'll call you as soon as I have an update on his condition, I promise. Until then, make sure you look after yourself, okay?"

Her head drooped, and her eyes dulled in defeat. "I…guess," she said. "Thanks."

The next several minutes were something of a blur. It seemed almost surreal to watch the blaring ambulance disappear down the street, taking Psyduck away from her yet again when she had only just got him back. All of her other pokémon were going with him, so at least he wouldn't be alone – but that didn't stop her wishing she could be there by his side too, a silent presence in his time of need to let him know everything was going to be alright.

"Nurse Joy will take good care of Psyduck, Misty, that I can assure you."

When Misty heard Professor Oak's words of comfort, she suddenly realised she had wandered back over to where everyone was standing. The two groups had seemingly merged into one, with her sisters talking to Alexa and Pikachu trying to distract Azurill from the distressing scenery with a game of peekaboo.

"I know," she agreed, smiling bashfully when she saw everyone turn to look at her.

At that moment, Officer Jenny appeared from behind the nearest ambulance. The exertion of having to shepherd a mob of nosy locals was showing clearly in her cheeks.

"Looks like the crowd's beginning to thin out," she stated. She then approached Misty, who shrunk a little in the imposing woman's presence.

"It's Misty, isn't it?" The young redhead nodded hurriedly. "We're just about ready to finish up here. Do you and your sisters have anywhere to stay tonight?"

"Um…" she began, before Daisy jumped in.

"What about the lab? There's, like, hundreds of rooms there, right, Trace?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea," Tracey confirmed after a quick courteous glance at Professor Oak. "All four of you are welcome to stay as long as you want."

Meanwhile, Ash crept closer to his mother and whispered a few words in her ear. The forty-one-year-old smiled in agreement as she cleared her throat to speak.

"Alternatively, Misty, you could always come to stay with Ash and me. It's the least we can do."

Misty was touched – especially after seeing how much Ash's face lit up at the prospect – yet remained inescapably conflicted.

"Delia, I…thank you, but I really think I ought to stay close to my pokémon," she finally said.

Ash stepped forward. "Come on, Misty, you heard Nurse Joy say there's nothing you can do for them just waiting around. You can come back here first thing tomorrow if you want. I'd just, well," – he blushed slightly – "hate for you to be alone right now, you know?"

With everyone staring at her, this decision was far harder than it needed to be, but her discomfort aside, she loathed to admit her best friend had made a good point. Despite still being somewhat unsure, she eventually felt herself give in to reason.

"Okay."

"Pikachupi!" squeaked Pikachu happily at her feet.

"Glad that's settled," Officer Jenny affirmed. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital first?"

"Yes. I'm fine, honestly."

"Well, in that case," her white-gloved hand gestured over to a police car on the grass, "all that's left to do is to take a statement from each of you down at the police station. If you'll kindly follow me…"

* * *

"_These shocking images are brought to you live from Cerulean City, where a tragic accident has levelled the iconic Cerulean pokémon gym, home of the world-famous Sensational Sisters, leaving much of its aquatic life seriously injured. The cause of the accident has yet to be revealed, though conspiracists are already offering theories ranging from gas leaks to terrorist attacks by the likes of…"_

The report was showing on every television set in the window of the small electronics store. Hardly a soul was about, a rare occurrence on such a mild evening in midsummer Viridian City. From across the plaza trudged three surreptitious figures dressed in long trench coats and hats, their shoulders hunched from exhaustion. The display in the window caught their eyes instantly, and their faces were soon pressed up against the glass as they strained to hear.

"Holy cowterpie…" exclaimed the shortest of the trio. "Is dat what I think it is?"

The taller man to his left looked down puzzledly. "I don't know, Meowth. What do you think it is?"

On their other side, the magenta-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Idiots. It's the original twerpette's gym."

"No way! Hey, we ain't been there since you foist cracked out dat tutu, eh, Jimmy boy?" remarked Meowth.

"Ah, such a memorable debut," James reminisced. "We don't see much of the redheaded twerpette these days. Oh, she was a peach. This is awful!"

"D'ya think she left da stove on or something?"

"If you morons would put a sock in it, maybe we'd find out!" snapped Jessie, cupping her hand to her ear.

"_According to Officer Jenny of the Kantonian police force, only two people were in the building at the time of the incident: twenty-two-year-old Misty Waterflower, the leader of the gym, and her best friend, twenty-one-year-old Ash Ketchum, a pokémon trainer from Pallet Town who placed in the Top Eight of the Vertress Conference just months ago. The pair suffered only minor injuries and are expected to make a full recovery."_

Meowth threw his paws up in exasperation. "So dat's where da twoip and Pikachu went! What was all dat baloney about goin' to the Kalos region last night then?"

"Don't ask me," James shrugged.

"Wooobbuffet!" bellowed Wobbuffet as it burst out from its pokéball.

"With you on the team again we've got all the baloney we'll ever need!" Jessie barked, returning the excitable blue punching bag and crossing her arms angrily.

Turning back to the screen, James stroked his chin. "Hmm, it's not like the twerp to dawdle around like this before a journey. When has he ever chosen to visit his twerpy friends over travelling?"

"And the original twerpette of all people," Jessie added. "Wait, you don't think…"

"Ooh!" the blue-haired man squealed. "Could it be our Pikachu-owning adversary is in the midst of a passionate realisation?"

"Heheheh, maybe he ain't as dumb as we thought!" chuckled Meowth.

"Long time coming if you ask me," Jessie commented rather bitterly. "There were times I could barely stomach the tension between those two back in the day. Hang on, isn't that them, in that corner just there? Where are they going?"

In the background of the news report, two haggard, dirt-covered young adults could be seen being ushered into the back of a police car by Officer Jenny. The vehicle quickly drove away out of shot, and as the camera zoomed out to refocus on the gym (or what was left of it), the engrossed trio found themselves lost in thought.

"Such a senseless waste…" James spoke up after an odd moment of silence.

Meowth cocked his head to one side. "What's eatin' you?"

"I always rather admired the architecture of that place. It reminded me of the decorative fountains in the courtyard of my parents' estate, where the servants would take me as a child to feed the water pokémon who lived there. Seeing them splash and swim around really had a way of letting me escape from the repressive, millionaire lifestyle I had to face in my salad days."

"Yeah, it must have been really hard for you," Jessie deadpanned. "Although, now that you mention water pokémon…"

She turned her attention back to the many TV screens in front of her:

"_Due to the uncertainty surrounding the nature of this incident, the site has been deemed hazardous and will be cordoned off in the interest of public safety until further notice. More on this story as it unfolds."_

"James," she crooned, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I don't know, Jess," he admitted for a second time. "What are you-"

"Oh, not this again!" The irked woman raked her hands through her hair, then quickly fixed it with a hairbrush she plucked seemingly out of nowhere. "The pokémon, James, the pokémon!"

"Huh?"

"Ugh. Look, we know the twerps are out of the picture, we've just seen it for ourselves. But no-one said anything about the twerpette's pokémon being moved, now did they? I bet there are dozens of rare water pokémon in that gym just waiting to be stolen!"

"Whaddaya mean, Jessie?" Meowth inquired. "There ain't even any gym left to steal from!"

"Only as far as we can see," she replied confidently. "What about those end bits there? And that whole bit at the front? Nice try, Officer Jenny, but you're not fooling me that easily."

James appeared dismayed at the idea. "Really, Jessie, can't we just give them a break this one time? I know we're the bad guys and everything, but stealing their pokémon right after all this, doesn't it seem kind of…heartless?"

"Oh, don't be so soft!" Jessie snapped at him, causing him to flinch dramatically. "This is a perfect opportunity and I say we go for it!"

Meowth twirled a whisker around his stubby paw in thought. "The boss'll sure be happy with us if dis woiks…but how're we gonna pull it off if you's ain't got no pokémon no more?"

"You heard the news just now, right? The whole area's going to be closed off after tonight, which means there'll be no-one around to see us sneaking in. We don't even need pokémon for a job this simple – it'll be like taking candy from a togepi!"

"And then we use da pokémon we steal from da twoipette to capture Pikachu!" Meowth rounded off.

"Hahahaha! I like how you think!" cackled Jessie, while a now fully on-board James punched the air. "Time for these troopers to take one for Team Rocket!"

"Yeah!"

A harsh knocking on the glass sent the trio jumping almost a foot off the ground. When they looked over, the face of a gruff, bearded man could be seen poking out between two of the television sets.

"This isn't a movie theatre, you know," he grunted in a muffled but gravelly voice. "Either come in and buy something or get moving!"

"EEEEEH!" shrieked James as the threesome hurtled at breakneck speed down the street and into the darkening horizon. "Looks like Team Rocket's wimping out again!"

* * *

_ **That night…** _

The tree she'd picked to sit in was one of the tallest around for miles. Even as the sun began to set over the charming little town of Pallet, Misty could still see far, far out into the distance: the quaint clusters of houses; the acres of farmland stretching out in every direction; Cinnabar Island and the Seafoam archipelago way across the sea; even the mysterious Mt. Silver marking the border between Kanto and Johto. On any other day, the site would be miraculous, awe-inspiring, maybe even a little nostalgic. But today was not a day for wonder or magic or anything of the sort. Today was a day for sadness, and sadness was exactly what she had to spare.

Now that she thought about it, it did seem childish of her to have turned off her pokégear, especially since she was expecting a call from Nurse Joy at some point. The incident had left her feeling exposed, naked, like an open wound for the murkrow to come and peck at, and being so forthright with her feelings was not something she particularly relished, even at the best of times. But then, she supposed she should probably be grateful that people clearly cared enough about her to want to make sure she was alright.

Flicking open her pink, watch-like device, Misty winced as a telling notification immediately filled the tiny screen:

_52 missed calls._

She'd feared this would be the case. Scrolling through each individual call, she counted thirty-seven from her friend May alone, apparently every bit as frantic as Ash had implied earlier. Brock had tried to ring her six times, Dawn had made three attempts, Max another two, while the remaining handful were from unknown numbers. The attention was flattering to an extent, but mostly it just served to bring the guilt flooding back in. She knew there was no excuse for ignoring her friends like this, no matter how she felt. Worse still, not one of these calls was from the Cerulean pokémon centre, and old-fashioned though it may it have been to think this way, no news was not good news to her. She wanted to know, and every second she didn't know felt like a Fire Punch to the gut.

For a long time, all she could think to do was stare forward, watching the distant tide froth and ripple in a display of unfettered, chaotic beauty. Just when the sky had begun to grow darker, she heard a slight rustling at the foot of the tree, which she dismissed as a passing pidgey or something until she felt her pokégear vibrating in her pocket.

"What," she groaned into the receiver, not a trace of a question in her voice.

"Mind if I join you?"

From her elevated viewpoint, he appeared oddly small, yet his face was clearly visible from the light of the device he was holding. In his brown eyes she detected both concern and something more playful that would normally have made her smile. Fully aware he was going to come up regardless of her answer, she ended the call and gestured her assent with an upward flick of her head, making sure to throw in a quick eye roll for good measure.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked as Ash climbed up beside her on the branch.

He brandished his own pink pokégear with a grin. "It's my mom's. She told me they can track each other, so I tried it out. Good thing you decided to turn yours on after all, hmm?"

Misty didn't answer, though another roll of her eyes aptly got the point across.

"I should be angry, shouldn't I?" she said after a few awkward minutes, still staring off into space.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's been years since we've had any sort of accident like this. The worst thing I can remember recently is Daisy forgetting to order the pokémon food one time. Then you show up out of the blue after three years, and suddenly everything I've built since I became the gym leader is lying in ruins in a hole in the ground."

For once, Ash sensed he could read between the lines. "Misty, if you want me to leave you alone…"

"No, don't go," she said purely instinctively. In truth, Ash's presence was quietly comforting, despite her not being in much of a state to entertain at this time. "I said I _should_ be angry…but I'm not. I know this isn't your fault."

He smiled in understanding, and soon another phase of silence was upon them. There seemed little need to talk, as both knew exactly what the other was thinking about. Still, the longer it went on, the more Misty began to realise that a bit of company might be just what she needed right now.

"Ash, can I ask you something?"

Her voice was soft and inoffensive, a vulnerability that Ash had seldom heard from her before. As she looked over at him, he could see a faint bruising around her eyes and cheeks, presumably from the pounding she took against Psyduck's energy blasts. It had always struck him as remarkable that his best friend could be so strong, so guarded, yet so empathetic and emotional at the same time, and her willingness to put herself in harm's way for her pokémon was the most perfect example of that.

She watched him nod his head warmly and took in a shallow breath.

"All of this around us – the hills, the mountains, the lab, your mom's house – do you still consider it home?"

The pokémon trainer's brow raised up at the question. "Well, er, yeah. Why would you ask that?"

"I was just wondering," she said, "since you spend most of your time travelling, there'd really be no need for you to think of Pallet Town as your home if you didn't want it to be, you know?"

"Erm…not really," he replied in confusion.

She looked down at her legs, which were swinging back and forth underneath the branch. "When I ran away from home, I had no intention of going back, ever. I hated it in Cerulean City, stuck in the gym with no friends, no parents, and three much older sisters who did nothing but pick on me day and night. Then I met you, and…" she turned away to hide the red in her cheeks, "we started having all these amazing adventures together. Every night we slept in a different place, every day we were on the road training or visiting all these beautiful towns, and over time I realised that Cerulean City didn't have to be my home anymore. I was a traveller; home could be anywhere I wanted it to be."

With another sharp inhale, she looked back around to the front. "But when I had to leave…I suddenly didn't have that option anymore. Being a gym leader meant staying in one place, raising my pokémon alone and waiting for trainers to wander in asking for a battle. I was unhappy for a really long time. But you know what? Eventually I found myself starting to like it; the regular routine, the responsibility of being a gym leader, the way people waved at me around town, and I knew then, for maybe the first time in my life, that the Cerulean gym was my true home. Now that it's gone, I…"

Ash took in her every word with genuine fascination, his heart sagging when she seemed to choke up slightly on her last sentence. It really was hard to believe that the building he had first stepped into when he was ten years old – the domed ceilings, those reddish brown carpets, Misty's tiny room – was now but a memory.

"And you know the worst part?" she continued, a humourless laugh slipping out. "I can't even bring myself to care about any of that right now. Not when…"

Once again, her voice died in her throat before she could finish. Thankfully, Ash could tell what she was trying to say, and tentatively reached over to pluck one of Misty's hands away from her face, letting it drop to her side as he held onto it gently.

"Misty, it's alright," he reassured her. "I'm worried about Psyduck too. I promise, as soon as we get up tomorrow, we'll go back to Cerulean City so we can check up on him."

"We?" she whimpered, shivering as Ash's thumb traced circles on the back of her hand. "I thought you said you were going to Kalos?"

Ash smiled sadly. "Oh come on, Misty, I can't just up and leave after everything that's happened! Like it or not, I'm staying here with you until all of this is sorted out."

"You mean it?" she sniffed in disbelief. "You'd put off your journey for me?"

He squeezed her hand a little tighter. "Of course I would, Misty. You're my best friend."

Perhaps he'd imagined it, but Ash's right arm suddenly felt a lot warmer, leading him to think that Misty had moved closer to him. He cleared his throat to mask the strange shortness of breath that soon befell him.

"Oh, and for your information, I don't hand out 'best friend' titles like RageCandyBars," he added in a playfully pouty tone. "But man, I could really go for one of those right now. They're all the rage, after all!"

A faint sound came from his friend's direction, one that Ash wasn't sure was a grunt or a giggle. Given the circumstances, he decided to go with the safe option and lay off some of his quirkiness.

"I mean, sure, so Brock, May, Tracey, Dawn, all of those guys, they're all my best friends – but you're my _best_ best friend…you know? Well, I guess there's Gary too, but that was more before I started my journey. Hey, I bet you didn't know this…"

He patted the trunk of the tree with his free hand. "The morning after you and Brock left to go back home, me and Pikachu walked to the edge of town and sat in this exact tree for hours."

Misty's head craned upwards. "You did?"

"I didn't really know what to do with myself right after the group split up. It was all I'd known since I first started travelling. I missed both of you a lot, but then Brock ended up coming back pretty early in my journey through Hoenn, so I suppose I always, well…" he pulled his cap slightly over his eyes, "missed you more."

Her head had been spinning before he had even begun to speak; now, she could barely see straight. "I…thank you, Ash," she gasped, and with a light nudge of his shoulder, covertly turned her secret appreciation into playfulness. "I guess great minds think alike, huh?"

Ash grinned as a flash of emotion passed across Misty's face. "Was that a smile?"

"No…!" she shot back, embarrassed.

"It was, I just saw it!"

"No it wasn't! I just had something in my teeth, that's all!"

"Oh, _that_ old chesto berry. Sorry, Mist, but you definitely smiled."

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

The argument wasn't quite as heated as usual, perhaps owing to their tiredness or the fact that neither had any real reason to be angry at the other. After a while, the sparring stopped abruptly, and the two friends looked away from each other with sheepish smirks on their faces.

_Guess I win_, Ash snickered internally. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Professor Oak's laboratory only a few hills away. He wondered how Misty's sisters were settling in without their four-poster beds and silk sheets and everything else he imagined them having back at the gym. They'd be complaining to no end, he presumed, but Tracey would make sure they-

His stomach jolted, and a nauseating coldness clawed through every bone in his body. In all of the commotion, he'd almost forgotten. She was going to flip, big time. And just when her mood was starting to improve, too – oh, this was surely going to finish her off. It was the last thing on Earth he wanted to do, but he knew this couldn't wait. He had to do it now, or she'd murder him all the more for keeping it from her.

Drawing in a long and painful breath, the nervous young man shuffled around to his unaware friend.

"Misty, I…" he began, his gloved palms starting to sweat, "I've got something to tell you, and you're, um, not going to like it."

Her hand freed itself from his, and she shuffled slightly away from him. "What is it?" she asked in sincere alarm.

"It's, well, er," he stuttered, scratching at the back of his head, "it's about Tracey."

"Tracey?" she repeated. "What about him? Has Violet thrown a tantrum at the lab or something? What?!"

Ash knew she couldn't have been appreciating the stalling, considering all the bad news she had received already today. With another jagged breath, he decided to just go for it.

"Remember earlier when we were sitting in the ambulance waiting for my mom to get there?" She nodded anxiously. "Well, um, you weren't looking, but I saw Tracey go straight over to your sisters, and he, er, he and Daisy were…" he braced himself for the eruption, "…kissing."

Misty blinked. "So?"

The remark confused him immensely. "Huh? No, I mean _really_ kissing, like, you know, on the lips and stuff!"

"Yeah, I know what you meant. So what?" she said, not even batting an eye.

Now he was even more confused. "So…aren't you upset about it? I thought you said he was helping you and sleeping over all the time and everything!"

It took longer than Misty cared to admit before she understood. Naturally, she overthought it at first, but then when she remembered this was, in fact, Ash, and not someone with an actual brain, everything quickly started to piece together. And she found it hilarious.

"Oh n-no," she giggled, said laughter building by the second. "T-Tell me you didn't!"

Ash had no idea what to make of this. "What's so funny?" he cried out. "I'm being serious, Misty, I saw it!"

"Th-This is why you were acting s-so weird when we were cleaning the aquarium?! And wait, did you ask me to stay at your house so I wouldn't be…oh m-my god, I think I'm g-gonna pee myself!"

"Misty, what's going on? Am I missing something here?" Ash exclaimed, completely floored by her nonchalance.

She calmed down somewhat after this, wiping her eyes with her arm. "This whole time, ever since you got back from Unova," she gurgled, "you thought Tracey and I were…involved?"

"You're not?" he yelped in response.

"No!"

"Then what the heck was all that about today?"

Still giggling every now and then, Misty placed a hand on the muddled boy's shoulder.

"First of all, Ash: Tracey and Daisy have been dating for over five years. I've honestly lost count of the amount of times I've told you that already. A few months ago, Tracey proposed to her, and they're getting married sometime next year. With me so far?"

Ash bobbed his head in acknowledgement, thinking it best to keep quiet for this part.

"Secondly, me and Tracey?! Eww! I mean, no offense to him, and I'm so happy for him and Daisy, but he's really not my type."

"So you've got a type?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Shut up. And thirdly – and I can't stress this one enough – mind your own busin-AAAHH!"

With her exaggerated body language came an excess of movement atop the narrow branch, and Misty slipped backwards over the edge, landing spread-braviary on the grass like a face-down staryu.

Predictably, this was Ash's cue to burst into his own laughing fit (but not before a heavy sigh of relief at the previous conversation). He leapt down to her side and extended a hand out to her, which she begrudgingly accepted.

"You were saying?" he said cockily.

"I was saying you're the dumbest person I've ever met, Ash Ketchum!" she barked in humiliation. "A slowpoke could've figured that out faster than you!"

She poked him roughly in the chest. "Don't ever scare me like that again! Next time you have 'something to say', ask yourself whether or not it's stupid _before_ you say it!"

"Ow! I'm sorry, okay?" he retorted.

"Whatever," she snapped, before breaking out into a coy smile. "If you really want to make it up to me, you can answer me this: did Iris and Cilan know who I was because you told them about me in Unova?"

Ash, having expected a harder question, was more than happy to respond. "Yeah, I guess they did."

A distinct pinkness rose to Misty's bruised cheeks. "Really? What did you tell them?"

"That you're a loud-mouthed battle-axe who calls me names and hits me over the head with a mallet," he grinned, following it up with, "In other words, just the good stuff."

"Very funny," she stated sarcastically. "But thanks, I guess."

Ash smiled, then looked out over the now greyish hills before them. "We'd better head back home before it gets really dark," he suggested. Edging closer to Misty as they walked, he tapped her on the shoulder and sprinted further up the path. "You're it!"

"Ash, I really don't have the energy right now," Misty sighed across at him, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Aww, don't be like that, Mist!" he shouted back. "If you don't join in, I'll call Brock and tell him about that time you wet your sleeping bag!"

And thus, the chase was on. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, KETCHUM!"

Only Pikachu was awake to greet them when they finally reached the house. With flushed faces, tousled hair and grass stains all over their clothes, one could draw some pretty startling conclusions – but after the day they'd had, the curious mouse decided that perhaps they deserved the benefit of the doubt.

* * *

Ash awoke the following morning with a major crick in his neck. Tradition demanded that he give up his bed for Misty, which he had been willing to do, but at the time he'd forgotten how unforgiving the fold-out bed in the guest room was. At least it saved him the trouble of having to set an alarm clock, as it was 7:48am right now, and there was no way he was going to get back to sleep.

After the usual tedious morning procedure, he trudged downstairs to find Misty waiting for him in the kitchen. Seeing her dressed in one of his old white T-shirts was something of an out-of-body experience, though at the same time he couldn't deny it kind of suited her.

"Morning, Ash," she smiled at him.

"H-Hi," he stammered involuntarily.

"Oh good, you're up," Delia observed as she entered the room. "Misty was just telling me that you're planning to go back to Cerulean City today. Tracey called late last night; he said he's taking Misty's sisters to shop for essentials like clothes and whatnot, and asked if you'd like to join them."

"Sure, sounds like a good idea," he stated. "But Misty and I are going to check up on Psyduck and the other pokémon first, right, Mist?"

"Yeah…" she affirmed, all of a sudden sounding a little uneasy.

"Quite right, too," Delia agreed. "Oh, I do hope the poor dear is alright."

"So do I," Misty murmured, mostly to herself.

Ash picked up the backpack he had left next to the door. "Are you ready then, Misty?"

"You're going now?" asked Delia. "But what about breakfast?"

"We'll pick something up in Cerulean," he shouted back. "It's important we get to the pokémon centre as quick as we can!"

Pikachu bounded onto his shoulder, while Misty scooted over to his side.

"Thank you," she mouthed to him, a sincere smile on her face.

Turning around, Ash threw open the door and was immediately stopped in his tracks by a tall man in a black suit and tie standing on the doorstep.

"Er…" he hesitated.

The man narrowed his eyes at the young man. "Pardon me, sir," he droned, "but is there a Misty Waterflower here?"

"That's me," Misty said, stepping into view.

"I apologise for calling at this early hour, but my superiors insisted that it couldn't wait."

"What couldn't wait?" she asked.

With bated breath, the redhead watched the man reach into his jacket pocket and pull out an off-white envelope adorning a decorative wax seal. He thrust it in her direction, and she warily accepted it, her fingers running over the velvety red insignia.

"What's this about?" she inquired.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am," he replied flatly before tipping his hat. "Good day."

As the mysterious man's car disappeared up the dirt road, Ash, Misty and Delia stood in the doorway crowding around the bizarre letter.

"What's it say?" an eager Ash pried.

"I haven't even opened it yet, doofus," Misty riposted. Preparing to do just that, she carefully snapped the seal away from the parchment, lifting up the flap and unsheathing the ornate, gilded-edged paper that lay inside. Her eyes skimmed across the page, growing darker and wider with every subsequent word she absorbed. Neither Ash, Delia nor Pikachu made a single sound, too wrapped up in this increasingly unbearable suspense. When Misty had finally read all she could take, the envelope slipped out of her hand onto the floor, and her legs turned to jelly beneath her.

"Misty, whatever is it?" Delia gasped, while Ash rushed forward to catch his stunned friend before she fell. "Is something wrong?"

In a half-crouching position, Misty took a number of panicked breaths with her hands resting on her bent knees. The moment she looked up, her face had completely changed.

"It's the Pokémon League," she drawled in a lifeless monotone. "They're taking me to court."


	4. III: The Gyarados Predicament

CHAPTER 3: The Gyarados Predicament

_His eyes were closed, but he'd never seen more clearly. Time, space, matter, meaning – mere fragments of a greater whole, an insight with truth and beauty beyond compare. In planes of knowledge where lesser beings would be utterly consumed he frolicked with ease, trembling in a euphoria built up over years of involuntary self-suppression. And why wouldn't he? The universe had called to him, screamed within him his entire life, and at long last he could finally respond._

_Until now, such enlightenment had only been felt in fleeting bursts, the tiniest of excerpts granted by severe physical trauma. This was the first time he'd seen the whole picture, this realm of reality free from interruption, and it was magnificent. Past, present and future lay before him like an astral tapestry, a single work of art for him to mould however he saw fit. Never had he known such power, and never had such power known him. Oh, the marvels he could achieve; the wonders he could create…_

_Only, he could not move. A limitless mind trapped in a lifeless body. The humans had done what they thought was right, as would any young and narrow-minded species. He didn't blame them. In the inactivity, he focused on his Mistress; all at once, he could see as she saw, sense as she sensed, hurt as he had for years witnessed her hurting. And so he lay there, silent, and watched closely…_

* * *

"Misty! Misty, wait up!"

"Pikachupi!"

The streets, buildings and passersby of Cerulean City were but a blur to them. Given the urgency of their journey, the two panicked friends had opted for the bus rather than travelling on foot or by pokémon (the latter not being an option with Charizard at the pokémon centre). The ride was infuriatingly slow, and unbearably tense, and before the vehicle had even come to a stop, Misty had shot out of those barely open doors like a stir crazy sharpedo.

"Misty, slow do- ow! S-Sorry…uh, m-medical emergency!"

The further away she hurtled, the harder it was for Ash to navigate the unamused crowds his friend had seemed to slide through effortlessly. He wasn't used to being the chas_er_ rather than the chas_ee_; on any other day, it would be him charging merrily down the road with his companions yelling at him as they tried in vain to keep up. This was certainly an interesting switch-up to the formula, if not a very timely one.

_Get to Psyduck. Get to Psyduck. _These words had repeated themselves in Misty's head from the moment she woke up that morning. She could think of nothing else – not the gym, not her sisters, not Ash, not even that haunting letter from the Pokémon League – and having not heard anything from Nurse Joy only made her all the more fearful of the worst. Her gaze was fixed forwards in a focused trance that neither her tear-filled eyes nor the glints of sunlight from between the houses served to sever. The pokémon centre was up ahead – she was just thankful she didn't have to pass the wreckage of her gym to reach it.

"I told you…to w-wait," a sodden and exhausted Ash panted as Misty's suddenly slowed pace allowed him to catch her up. She stopped at the shimmering glass doors to the pokémon centre and turned to look at the doubled-over young man.

"Ash, what if he's-"

Her mouth clenched shut before the threatening crack in her voice could make itself heard. Ash caught her eye just as she began to turn her head and smiled sadly.

"Don't think like that, Mist," he answered. "We'll go in together, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded, a little heat rising to her cheeks. As they stepped forward through the doors, the warm and humid surroundings of early morning Cerulean City were quickly replaced with yellow tiled floors, cool air conditioning and a stinging brightness from the strip lights stretching across the high ceiling.

"Nurse Joy?" Misty called out shakily. From across the foyer, a singularly tired-looking woman came scampering immediately over to them.

"Misty, thank goodness you're here," she said with a surprising lack of sincerity. "I…have your pokéballs here for you. Um, yours, too, Mr. Ketchum. I-If you'll just-"

"Why didn't you call?!" the redhead blurted out in angry distress. "You promised me! Do you know how worried I was?!"

Joy's azure eyes grew glassy with sorrow. "I tried, Misty, I really did!"

The girl's puzzled expression prompted her to continue. "I must have dialled your number at least ten times…but ever since last night, the phonelines in the pokémon centre have been down. It's…" she cast a worried glance over her shoulder, "it's a long story."

"What do you mean?" Misty inquired in a softer tone. Joy awkwardly shifted behind the front desk and inhaled deeply.

"I…maybe we should back up a little, here." With the sentence came an attempt at a courteous smile. "I have good news and bad news."

"B-Bad news?" Misty jumped in before Ash had a chance to pick.

Joy cleared her throat. "Yes. The bad news is that I'll have to keep Gyarados here for at least another day. He suffered a massive trauma to the head, though it doesn't seem to have come from any object or pokémon attack I know of. It's…a little concerning, but I imagine he should be fine with some more rest."

"Mhm…?" she nodded hurriedly, as if expecting more.

"Of course, you can come in any time to check up on him…"

"Yes?" Misty's anxiety was growing by the second.

"Oh, and I thought we might implement a leaner diet plan for him once he settles in back at the gym – you know, just until the swelling goes d-"

"What about Psyduck?"

The indignance in her voice was unmissable, but the suspense was killing her, and she had to know now. Nurse Joy's eyes darkened instantly.

"I-I…" she stuttered, wringing her tiny hands in discomfort, "I think you'd better follow me."

She said nothing else, instead lifting up the desk hatch for Ash and Misty to step through and walking resolutely through the long white corridors to the recovery wards. They ambled behind her, each step through the echoing halls conjuring another horrifying picture in their minds. Where was she taking them? What was so bad about this that she couldn't have just told them? Was it even worse than they were imagining? Eventually, they came to a moderately sized rectangular room, its windows obscured from the inside and bulging outwards in the most peculiar way. The paint was cracked all along the wall, and a pipe above their heads had clearly burst and been patched up recently. Most alarming, however, was the blackened, gnarled grid of scorch marks around the entirety of the blistered doorframe.

"What the…" Ash mumbled to himself. Pikachu shrank a little on his trainer's shoulder.

"I must warn you, what you're about to see is…quite distressing," Joy said delicately, before forcing open the heavy door and cautiously ushering them inside. Misty was not prepared for this. She couldn't take this uncertainty, the sheer theatricality of it all. Though admittedly unsure of quite what she had been expecting to see, the minute she walked through that charred doorway she knew it was absolutely not _that_.

"Ps-Psyduck?" she said through a startled intake of breath.

The room was completely empty, save for a crinkled mattress laid out in the middle of the floor. Nestled snugly in the thick white blanket resting atop it was a plump yellow pokémon, locked inertly in what seemed like a deep, deep slumber. The blue glow from yesterday was nowhere to be seen, Misty was thankful to discover, and his wounds had been thoroughly cleaned and bandaged. It would have been an image of great comfort, she thought, were his perpetual stillness not so profoundly unnerving to her.

Without thinking to ask if it were safe to do so, the teary young woman sank to her knees beside the makeshift bed and gathered the unconscious duck into her arms.

"It's alright, Psyduck, I've got you," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. She then aimed a distinctly horrified look at Nurse Joy, causing her to retreat slightly.

"Why the hell is he on the floor?!" she exclaimed in disgust. "Is a bed too much to ask?"

"Misty…" Ash murmured, his head on a swivel.

"And shouldn't he be hooked up to a heart monitor or something? It's like a prison in here!"

"Misty, look."

A lethargic tap on her shoulder put an end to Misty's heated train of thought, for what she saw when she followed her friend's gaze was unlike anything she had ever witnessed before. Each of the room's four walls was coated in a kind of thin, inorganic 'crust', varying in colour and texture from one spot to the next. It jutted out from the concrete surface by barely an inch, virtually two-dimensional, while large blobs of plaster behind it were noticeably warped and concave, implying a density or even a force about the bizarre material. For the most part, the staining was only chest high, but amongst the patchwork of matting lay the occasional cluster of steepled veins resembling fingers creeping up towards the high ceiling. Everything about it was unexplainable, unnatural, unsettling, and just plain wrong.

"Pika pika?" queried Pikachu as he sniffed at the base of the wall.

"Pikachu, get away from there!" Ash cried out in alarm.

"Oh, don't worry, it's quite safe," Nurse Joy assured him. "We've been running tests all morning." Hearing this, Misty stepped over to beside the inquisitive rodent and cautiously reached out to touch the otherworldly collage.

"What is this?" she asked, both rhetorically and with complete urgency. Her fingers ran lightly along the clotted substance, flinching each time she felt a new and unexpected texture underneath them. Within the mass, there seemed to be metal, plastic, glass, hints of varnished wood and several others she could not identify, all mysteriously melded together as one smooth slate.

"Hold on, is that…?" She stopped when she happened upon a notably softer spot. Whatever the coin-sized dot was had a unique velvety feel, not unlike clothing or even bedding, and when she squinted at it, a faint but familiar chansey pattern could be seen in part poking out from the corner.

"I'm…afraid it's rather hard to explain," said Joy, "but here – I think you should see this."

From behind her back the bashful woman produced a small handheld computer console. Her dainty fingers flicked at the screen for a short moment before she handed the device to Misty.

"This was ten o'clock last night," she dictated over the security footage that began to play. Ash and Pikachu huddled in to get a closer look.

"This can't be the same room," the redhead asserted, at which Nurse Joy gave a serious nod of verification. Indeed, the spotless, fully furnished hospital ward seemed like a far cry from the one in which they were currently standing. In the middle of the room was a bed surrounded by monitoring equipment, and the glow from the occupant of said bed was blinding on the grainy and monochromatic video, but Misty assumed it to be Psyduck, still emanating that ominous energy from the time of the incident.

"So, what are we supposed to see here?" asked Ash impatiently.

"Let me speed this up for you." Joy reached over to the controls at the side of the screen.

"Eleven o'clock." The scene was practically the same, except the light seemed to have grown stronger. "Twelve o'clock." Stronger still. "One o'clock." The objects around the room were now much further away from the centre. "Two o'clock." Medical apparatus and machinery had begun to warp out of shape. By this point, Misty had looked back over to the eerie wall coating, examining it far closer than she had before. The medley of materials was smooth, impossibly so, as though flattened down by an iron or a steamroller. Some fragments were lined or patterned; some contained markings resembling ink or lettering; and when she focused on the outstretching tendrils, a startling thought occurred to her that a lot of them, though almost mashed beyond recognition, looked a lot like…chair legs.

"Oh…my…god…" she stammered.

"What?" Ash inquired. "I don't get it."

"Can you g-go to the end?" she unsteadily asked Nurse Joy. The footage sped ahead to 4:37am, at which point the ward was in total disarray. A steady stream of yellow-ish gas was spilling into the room from an air vent on the ceiling, which gradually caused Psyduck's aura to recede. Then came a loud crash, followed by another, and a freakish fork of light later, the camera feed cut to black.

"We had no idea what to do," Joy spoke up somewhat remorsefully. "I've never seen anything like it. We were worried it might've spread to the whole pokémon centre if he kept going."

Misty was too shocked to say anything, so Joy thought it best to carry on. "I had a pair of weepinbell pump sleep powder into the room through the ventilation shafts, which seemed to calm him enough for us to enter. With all the equipment destroyed, I couldn't get an accurate assessment of his condition, so I was forced to place him in a chemically induced coma for the time being."

"And, er, how did that…?" Misty pointed to the scorched door while desperately trying to process what had already been said.

"The door was sealed shut from the inside, so I had to call a team of workers to laser cut their way through the blockage. Once we got in, all radio communication in the building suddenly stopped transmitting for some reason – that's why I wasn't able to contact you."

"Can someone please tell me what the heck's going on?"

Misty, having only just pieced the puzzle together herself, proceeded to immediately take her resulting stress out on her slow-witted friend.

"Psyduck's sick, you moron!" she screamed in his face. "Look at this!" Her pointing finger darted between several spots of the wall. "Lamp. Mattress. Mug. Syringe. Stethoscope. How else do you explain that?! You saw the video – it's his headache, his psychic abilities! All this time we've thought it was a blessing, but now…god, this is all my fault…"

Nurse Joy put the console down and placed her hand on the young girl's shoulder.

"Misty, I'm not sure how this happened, but one thing I am certain of is that none of it is your fault."

"Isn't there a-anything you can d-do?" Misty pleaded desperately.

"Not me, no. This is beyond anything I've ever dealt with. But I sent a message out to my cousin via carrier pidgey this morning, and we've arranged to have him moved to a laboratory in Indigo Plateau as soon as possible."

"Indigo Plateau?!" Ash repeated in surprise.

She nodded. "Psyduck needs to be examined by someone specifically trained in psychic healthcare. I've been told that a specialist is on his way to Indigo Plateau from Saffron City as we speak."

It was certainly a lot to process, and in these instances Misty's first reaction was almost always anger. She tried her hardest to push it down, taking deep breaths as she recounted in her head everything Nurse Joy had said to her.

"I…er…don't know how to…to thank you…" she whimpered as tears threatened to fall.

"No need to thank me, Misty," Joy smiled warmly. "And don't worry; I can assure you that Psyduck will be in the best of hands there."

A small nod from the redhead brought about a swift silence, more reflective than uncomfortable. Despite this, Ash quickly felt himself growing restless.

"So, uh, what was the good news?" he asked innocently.

Joy snapped her fingers. "Oh, yes! The good news is that all of your pokémon not directly involved in yesterday's…incident…have been checked over and are going to be just fine! Right this way."

Back at the front desk, Nurse Joy wheeled out a trolley containing several rows of freshly polished pokéballs. The top three trays were labelled as Misty's pokémon, while the handful on the bottom tray belonged to Ash.

"Azurill!" Misty cried as her trilling Polka Dot Pokémon bounced into her arms.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Ash said for the both of them. "Did you even fix Caserin's glowing problem?"

Misty's face turned bright red, and she had to bite her tongue to suppress her mortified gasp.

"Glowing problem?" the perplexed nurse clarified. "I'm afraid I didn't notice any glowing when I was treating him. Can you describe it to me?"

"Well, he kept glowing this weird pinkish red colour, and Misty said she'd never seen him do it till yesterday. I think it made him stronger or something. Come to think of it, it only seemed to happen when I went near him…"

Gradually, Nurse Joy began to make sense of the boy's explanation, and with a telling glance at Misty, who had now turned her back, she couldn't help but let out a small giggle.

"Oh, I see," she giggled again. "Well, in that case, I can tell you that Caserin is absolutely fine – better than ever, in fact! The two of you have nothing to worry about."

Ash blinked. "Really? So, what was causing it?"

"It's really nothing bad, Ash, I promise you," she smiled playfully. "Besides, I've got a feeling you'll find out soon anyway."

"Er…well, okay. It's awesome he's alright, though, huh, Mist?"

When he looked around, however, the girl in question had already disappeared out of the doors and halfway down the road. Nurse Joy gave the pokémon trainer a quick wink, which appeared to pass him by completely, as he simply bid his farewells, tipped his and Misty's pokéballs into his backpack and skipped out of the door after his highly embarrassed friend.

* * *

Brock's narrow eyes stared intently into the dregs of his Cerulean coffee.

"Oh man…that's one hell of a story…"

"And that's not all," Misty groaned.

"Wait, there's more?!"

She unearthed the hastily folded court summons and slid it across the table towards him.

"No way," he said in disbelief, eyeing its distinctive watermarked edges, "you've gotta be kidding me. Is this what I think it is?"

"See for yourself," she replied defeatedly. The furrowed man unfolded the parchment, cleared his throat and began to read aloud.

"_Dear Ms. Waterflower,_" he enunciated, "_Following the incident that occurred at 1730 hours yesterday afternoon at the Cerulean City Pokémon Gym, you are required to attend an investigative hearing to assess the extent of the damage caused and its potential disruption to the upcoming Indigo League Conference. The hearing will take place on August 23__rd__ at the Indigo Courthouse, Indigo Plateau, the outcome of which will determine both your direct involvement in said incident and, by extension, your future as a representative gym leader of the Pokémon League._"

"Wow, they don't mess around, do they?" commented Ash in amazement.

"No, they don't," Brock agreed. "Sorry, guys – if I'd known about this, I would've tried to get here even sooner."

"How is the internship going?" Misty asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Oh, it's going great! Violet City Pokémon Centre is an amazing place, and I've learned so much working under Nurse Joy. I mean, it's a pity I'm not _lying_ under her, but-"

"Not the time, Brock," she snapped harshly.

He scratched at his spiky hair. "Anyway…I've been assigned to look after a sick baby stantler. It's only four days old so it needs round-the-clock care. But after I heard about what happened at the gym, I told Nurse Joy I had to take some time off because of a family emergency. I wasn't lying, technically."

"Will it be alright?" Ash interjected.

"I'm sure it will. I mainly came back to see if you guys were okay, but since this hearing's only a week from now, I'll see if I can extend my stay until then. There'll be other doctors who can take on my duties."

"Thanks, Brock," Misty smiled weakly. "I think I'll feel better knowing you're there."

Ash raised his eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Of course, Misty," he smiled back. "Besides, I've been to the Indigo Courthouse a couple of times before."

"You have?"

"Yeah, back when I was a kid. My mom was summoned there quite a lot – negligence of duty or something like that. Hardly surprising, really, when you think about it. It's a wonder your sisters have never had to go."

"That we know of," Misty added dryly.

"So, what's it like?" Ash probed.

The doctor-in-training leant forwards towards his two younger friends. "Well, firstly, the Indigo Courthouse doesn't really work like an actual court. I think they just call it that to make it sound scary. There's no judge, no jury, no defence or prosecution or any of that – it's basically just a formal Q&A between you, the witnesses and the Pokémon League Trustees Bureau."

Misty gulped. "The PokéTrust?!" she repeated in terror.

"Oh, they're not as bad as you think," Brock chuckled.

"What's the PokéTrust?" asked Ash in confusion.

"They oversee the entire Pokémon League. Each region has its own board members, but they're all essentially the head honchkrows behind the scenes."

"Wait, like Lance? Hey, that's great! Surely it won't be so bad if our friends are running this thing, right, Misty?"

With her stress levels in overdrive, not even Ash's stupidity was endearing to her at this time. After smacking him over the back of the head, she growled to herself lengthily through clenched teeth.

"Wake up, dingus!" she huffed at him. When she saw him rubbing his bruise like a wounded growlithe thereafter, she rolled her eyes and immediately softened a little.

"Ash, you've only seen the nice side of the Pokémon League," she explained tiredly. "The Lances and the Cynthias and the Mr. Goodshows. They've got their roles, sure, but they're more the public face of the League – they're not the ones in charge. That's the Pokémon League Trustees Bureau, and they're anything but nice."

"Er, okay," Ash followed. "How so?"

"They're not in this because they love pokémon, like you and me. They don't care about any of that. The only language they understand is money and power, and they'll scoff at anyone who isn't on the exact same wavelength as them. I've dealt with most of them individually over the years, and they're all as cold and soulless as each other."

The pokémon trainer mulled over her words for a moment. "Oh…" he mumbled.

"Let's face it," she exhaled, "as soon as I go in there, they're going to tear me a new one."

"You don't know that, Misty," Brock reasoned.

"Oh please! If those pompous old windbags don't like what I say, I could end up losing my license!"

Ash leapt up from his chair. "They'd really do that? But you haven't done anything wrong!"

"You think that means anything to them?!" Misty exclaimed, pulling him back down beside her. "Believe me, with the PokéTrust, it's guilty until proven innocent."

The quaint little café on the quieter side of town was something of a sanctum for Misty. Every time the stress of singlehandedly running the gym began to weigh on her, she'd almost always find herself returning to this place. Sometimes she wouldn't even order anything; it was peaceful here, away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Cerulean City, and peace was the only thing she needed in those times. Today undoubtedly more than qualified, but given just how much worse things were right now, she began to wonder whether or not coming here would only taint her safe place hereafter with painful and unwanted memories.

During her brief reverie, Brock had taken it upon him to pay the bill at the counter. Ash had got up also, filling in for Misty by yanking him away from the pretty barista by his ear. They stared down at her expectantly until she eventually snapped out of it and stood up to join them.

"Look, Misty," Brock said once they were back outside, "try not to think of this Indigo Courthouse summons as you being on trial or anything. All it'll be is a stern talking to, just to get to the bottom of things – and I know you of all people can hold your own against bullies."

The remark brought a small smile to Misty's lips, much to her surprise. Indeed, if an argument was what they were looking for, then an argument was what they would get. And then some.

"And hey, I've just realised!" Ash chimed in. "Going to Indigo Plateau means we'll be able to stay close to Psyduck the whole time this court thing's going on!"

"I guess that's one good thing to come out of all this," Brock nodded.

Though their troubled friend felt just as relieved by that idea, she chose not to express such, instead picking up her pace down the quiet back lane.

"Come on, then. I told Tracey I'd meet him and my sisters at the mall in fifteen minutes."

Behind her, Brock and Ash just shrugged to each other, but nonetheless did as they were told.

* * *

It took less time than Misty had hoped to locate her sisters within the grand, sun-drenched Cerulean Central Shopping Mall. As she'd expected, the three divas were heard long before they were seen.

"Like, where the hell have you been?!" shrieked Lily, her pink hair dishevelled from repeatedly running her hands through it.

"Those three meanies made us wait for you!" a near-delirious Violet joined in. "I can't be, like, seen in public wearing this!"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Funnily enough, I've got bigger things to worry about than a tiny oil stain on your dress," she hissed tartly.

The blunette huffed in astonishment, and was about to retaliate before Daisy stepped in.

"Like, get over it, Vi," she laughed. "She's here now, right? Anyway, Misty, we needed to show you these."

From her diamond-studded handbag, the elder Waterflower plucked three identical sheets of parchment, each adorning the same waxen seal as the letter Misty had received that morning.

"Wait, you each got one, too?" Misty asked.

"Uh-huh. Some frosty guy in a suit, like, came to the lab and asked for us by name and everything. I thought he was just some creepy superfan."

"Dammit, Misty, I had a pedicure booked that day!" Lily whined. "Now I'm gonna have to go to court with, like, gross feet?!"

An elongated sigh rattled out of Misty's throat. "You do realise that if this hearing goes badly, we could lose our licenses and be left both homeless _and_ jobless?"

"Please," giggled Daisy, winking cryptically, "those boys from the PokéTrust have let us off for _way_ worse things than this before…"

Before the dumbfounded Misty could question this, the three Sensational Sisters skipped in unison off down the cavernous hallway, soon disappearing from sight behind a row of water fountains. Ash, Misty and Brock made their way over to Tracey and Alexa, both of whom had prominent bags under their eyes.

"Rough night?" Brock asked the former as they shook hands.

"I've had better," he chuckled tiredly. "Daisy's one thing, but all three of them in the same place…"

"Hehe, I can imagine."

Brock's uncharacteristic self-restraint caught Misty's attention immediately. Shouldn't the mere mention of her sisters, let alone seeing them all in the flesh, have sent him bouncing off the walls? Meanwhile, Ash had gone mysteriously quiet, looking up only to cast the occasional awkward, tacitly apologetic glance at his pokémon watcher friend.

"Ash, you okay?" Tracey detected moments later.

His head shot up, only for the onlooking Misty to clamp her hand over his mouth.

"Oh, it's just a little misunderstanding our pea-brained friend had yesterday," she chuckled in embarrassment. "I'll tell you later - you'll get a good laugh out of it, I'm sure."

"So, did you go to see Psyduck?" he asked her.

"Erm, yeah, we, er…did," came her meandering response. Content to leave it there, she turned away only for Ash to step into her place.

"He totalled the hospital ward so Nurse Joy's sending him to Indigo Plateau," he divulged innocently.

"Indigo Plateau? What for? Is he going to be okay?"

The two energetic men along with Brock walked further ahead as they conversed, while Misty hung back intentionally, shaking her head at the snippets of Ash's melodramatic body language she could see.

"Boys, huh?"

The Kalosian smiled as she stepped into view of the startled redhead.

"We haven't been properly introduced," she chirped, holding out her hand. "My name's Alexa. Ash and I travelled together for a while in the Decolore Islands. I was going to say something at the gym last night, but I figured that wasn't maybe the best time."

Misty nodded sheepishly and accepted the handshake. "Er, thanks. I'm Misty."

"Nice to finally meet you!" Alexa's expression turned more solemn. "Listen, Misty, Tracey told me about this business with the Indigo Courthouse this morning. As a journalist for the Lumiose Press, I've had to sit in on a fair amount of trials in the past. I know this hearing isn't quite the same, but I just wanted you to know that I'm more than happy to help build a case with you if you'd like – just to be on the safe side."

"Really?" she replied, both shocked and flattered. "I, er…yeah, that'd be great! Thank you!"

"Don't mention it," she beamed. "Any friend of Ash's is a friend of mine. Now, let's catch up with the rest of them, shall we?"

As it turned out, Misty's friends and family had covered a surprising distance in the short minute that she had looked away for. Ash, Brock and Tracey were still just visible at the other end of the hall, whereas Daisy, Violet and Lily had somehow vanished completely. She didn't mind, however; in actuality, it seemed that she and Alexa were already becoming fast friends. Perhaps it was the air of compassion about the woman, or maybe even the comforting anonymity of essentially talking to a stranger, but a conversation had started up organically on the walk across the mall, innocent at first yet steadily deepening before Misty could even stop herself.

"So, you never actually wanted to return to the gym?" Alexa asked in concern.

"No." She shook her head. "I'd been with Ash for almost five years by that point. Brock and Tracey, too. Travelling the world with my best friends, a new adventure every day – I could have done it forever."

"But you got used to being the gym leader over time?"

"I had no choice. My sisters were on a world tour, and Ash and Brock went right back to travelling. It was…hard at the beginning."

"Well, everyone here seems to think you did an incredible job turning the Cerulean gym around. Were you really voted the eleventh strongest gym leader in the world? Also, they made me swear not to tell you, but your sisters were singing your praises all night last night."

"They were?" the redhead said bashfully.

Alexa nodded. "Mhm. We all agreed that Cerulean City wouldn't be the same without the gym there to watch over it. I'm so sorry for everything that's happened, Misty."

Misty smiled, but her eyes remained pointing to the floor. "Thanks. That means a lot. But to be honest, it's not the gym I'm worried about. All I can think about is…Psyduck."

"Ah, of course – I understand. Tracey told me a little about him. You two sound thick as thieves."

"Hardly," she snorted, though with a little smile. "He's a pain in my ass. He can't swim, he eats everything in sight, and he's about as useful in a pokémon battle as a one-eyed wobbuffet." A sharp sensation burrowed through Misty's chest. "But when it comes down to it, well…"

"You couldn't live without him?" Alexa suggested, which the young girl confirmed with a stilted nod. "Relationships like that are the most special of all, I find. And from what I've seen, there's someone else you have that kind of bond with, yes?"

"Huh?!" Misty gasped, her face turning slightly pink. "Wh-What do you-"

"There you are!"

Before the redhead could finish the question, it became suddenly apparent to her that they had reached the fitting rooms at the back of a large department store, where Tracey, Brock and Ash were loitering around somewhat uncomfortably.

"Where'd you go, Mist?" Ash spoke up. "I was talking to you all the way here 'cause I thought you were still right next to me!"

"Can't you do without me for five minutes?" she snapped back, prompting the older members of the group to exchange knowing looks. To their right, the fitting room in the middle rattled with a pained grunt and a consecutive sigh of relief.

"Got it! Tray Tray, can you, like, come in here a minute? I can't decide if this bra is too small or not."

Tracey rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Coming!" he shouted before knocking lightly on the door and practically being sucked inside.

"Tray Tray?" Ash reiterated, scrunching his nose. The look of disgust caused even Misty to giggle.

"I guess I should go and look for something to wear, too," she shrugged.

"I think I see some more fitting rooms on the other side of the store," Alexa pointed out.

"Argh!" came an annoyed whine from the left cubicle. "Goddammit! Can someone, like, help me zip up this damn dress?!"

Brock's palms began to sweat.

"Oh no you don't, Mr. Swamperv!" Misty caught on immediately.

"I didn't say anything!" he defended in a manner that was, astonishingly, quite believable.

"You were thinking it," she snarled. "There's no way I'm leaving you here to drool over my sisters like a gloom."

"Don't worry, I'll go help Violet," Alexa chuckled.

"Thanks, Alexa. Right, the two of you are coming with me then."

"Why me?" Ash cried.

"Because I said so, Ketchum! Now, move your ass!"

"Girls," he muttered bitterly as he and Brock trudged along behind her.

A few minutes of clothes hunting later, Misty had finally managed to decide on a few items to try on. She flopped the clothes down on the bench inside the fitting room and turned to her friends.

"I swear, if I see either of you peeking, you're getting a mallet straight up Route Two."

"Why the hell would I want to peek at you?!" Ash grimaced, despite the faint redness in his cheeks.

"Pikapi?" answered the puzzled mouse on his shoulder.

"Not you, Pikachu, I said 'peek at you'!" His blush was now profound.

"Whatever," she sighed, slamming the door shut.

As initially amusing as their friend's growling and crashing about was, Ash and Brock quickly grew bored. The music playing over the speakers was bland and generic, and there was nothing to look at but perfumes for what seemed like miles. Despite her tone, Misty's voice eventually sounding out again was a thoroughly welcome break from the tedium.

"Ash, I need to ask you something."

Brock's mouth covertly formed a curious O-shape, and he slid back up the wall he was leaning against to stretch out his back.

"Think I'll go check out the watches over there," he whispered to Ash so Misty didn't hear. A moment later, the pokémon trainer was left sitting alone on the mirrored bench with his reflection staring blankly up at him.

"Er, what is it?" he asked towards the fitting room door.

"You know the statements we each had to make to Officer Jenny yesterday at the police station?"

He nodded briefly until remembering that she could not see him. "Oh, er, yeah, sure! What about them?"

"Well, I probably shouldn't be asking this, but…" he heard her clear her throat in an anxious manner, "what did you say in yours?"

"Uhh…" Ash pondered for a moment. "I guess I just told them exactly what I saw. You know, our battle, Caserin's glowing, Psyduck getting a giant headache, that kind of stuff. Why?"

Some muffled rustling came from within the cubicle. "Did you mention what happened to Gyarados?"

"Gyarados?" He tugged restlessly at the hems of his gloves. "I might've done, but I can't really remember…"

The rustling became more pronounced. "Think, Ash, this is important! Did you or didn't you?"

"Okay, okay, I'm thinking!" he retorted, taken aback. "Well, I was talking about the battle and how we were fighting over my hat…oh, yeah, I know! All I said was Gyarados started acting crazy and bumped into the diving board."

"Wait, you said that?!"

"Um…"

With the question came the cessation of any and all noise from Misty's side, and when her head suddenly popped up over the top of the booth, Ash performed an involuntary shiver – both at her horrified expression and her unmissably exposed shoulders.

"You dense idiot!" she screamed down at him. "Do you realise what might happen now?!"

"Huh?" Ash hiccupped in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious? If your statement makes it sound like I can't control Gyarados, the PokéTrust could take him away from me!"

"Take Gyarados from you?" he gasped. "Can they really do that?!"

"You bet they can. And they will, if they think Gyarados is prone to fits of hysteria like that."

"But I've seen loads of gyarados have wild tantrums before! Isn't that just, you know, what they do?"

"Not my gyarados!" Misty defended. "He's one of the sweetest, friendliest pokémon I've ever known. He has been trained, you know."

Ash scratched his head. "Then why did he freak out like that out of nowhere?"

The question stumped the young girl. In her anxiety, she hadn't even stopped to ask herself that. "I…don't know," she mumbled, ducking down a little in the fitting room.

"Pikachupi," gestured Pikachu with a wave of his tail. He then arched his body forward and opened his mouth wide, baring his pointy front teeth.

"What is it, Pikachu?" she called over. "Are you trying to tell me something about Gyarados?"

The imitative mouse nodded, then hopped over to another spot to continue his instructional game of charades.

"I, er…" Misty puzzled upon noticing Pikachu's latest pose.

"Wait a minute," Ash jumped in, "Gyarados saw something in the gym that made him go crazy?"

"Pika _chu_."

"Some_one_?"

Once again, Pikachu gave a stiff nod, simultaneously holding up his entire left paw.

"_Three_ people?!" Misty deduced in horror. "Who were they, Pikachu? Was it Team Rocket?"

"Chu," he denied.

"Team Aqua?" Ash suggested. Another denial soon followed.

"It wasn't my sisters, was it?" Misty groaned cynically. To end the guessing game, Pikachu hopped up onto a nearby countertop and puffed out his chest. With a curt "Pika," he signalled for them to watch him closely.

"Pi." He sucked in his gut to appear tall and thin. "Ka." With a dull facial expression, he squatted down in a way that mimicked an egg shape. "Chu." The third persona was similar to the first, though not quite as tall, the only major contrast being his sharp, pricked-up ears.

"So, one tall, one fat, and one…pointy?" Ash surmised. Pikachu frowned, but gave an approximate 'yes' with an outstretched teeter of his paw. "Hmm…nope, I've got nothing. Any ideas, Mist?"

Misty was, unsurprisingly, just as confused. Gyarados's rampage aside, it was shocking enough to know that there were other people in the gym before the accident! Were they hurt? Did they get out in time? As for who they were, the muddled girl just didn't know where to start. Her poor gyarados had had a deep-seated distrust of men for as long as she'd known him, so she was certain at least one of them was male. That was as far as she could narrow it down, however; the gym was open to the public during the day, and she'd had more challengers over the years than she could possibly count. They could have been anyone. Anyone.

"I…" she faltered desperately, "I think maybe we should just cross this bridge when we come to it. Alexa's just offered to help me prepare for the hearing next week."

"She has?" Ash asked.

"Mhm."

Her head then disappeared back down into the cubicle, and for the next few minutes Ash was left to ruminate on this startling new development by his lonesome. Perhaps until the time came, he concluded, it might be best not to bring up this Gyarados predicament again.

"Okay, now be honest," came a sceptical voice from the newly opened fitting room, "what do you think?"

Never one to lose himself in deep reflection, it did not take much to snap Ash out of his train of thought. When he looked up, the young man was greeted by the sight of his best friend wearing a form-hugging halter-necked top, velvety and sunkern yellow in colour, accompanied by pale blue jean shorts that showed off her long, athletic legs. A pair of gleaming white trainers rested upon her feet, and in her free-flowing orange hair she had placed a dainty starmie hairclip, allowing her subtle fringe to swoop gracefully over to one side. The whole image was remarkably similar to how she used to dress herself as a wide-eyed child travelling the world, something that the equally wide-eyed Ash noticed within a millisecond of seeing her. He felt giddy with nostalgia, with pure, childlike excitement – or at least, he would have, had not an inexplicable hot flush suddenly befallen him. Right now, all he found he could do was gormlessly pan his hazy irises up and down in a mixture of awe and uncertainty.

"Y-Yes," he eventually choked out, "that one."

* * *

James and Meowth looked disapprovingly down at their wincing companion.

"I thought ya said it was gonna be desoited," the latter groaned in annoyance.

"I, er…" Jessie stammered before letting out a growl. "Well, you didn't know either!"

"You could have made an educated guess," James suggested. Jessie responded simply by punching him hard in the chest.

"Ooooooh!"

"Keep it down, wise guy!" she hissed at him thereafter.

Meowth pawed irritably at the gold amulet on his forehead. "So how's we s'posed ter steal any pokémon with deez schmucks all over the joint?"

This very question had, of course, been on their minds from the moment they arrived at the site of the ruined Cerulean gym. Jessie stuck her head back over the bush they were hiding behind, squinting her eyes to survey the scene. Though pitch black at this early hour of the morning, the condemned crater was partially illuminated by bright floodlights mounted onto a nearby crane. In addition, the large number of workers around the wreckage each wore a headlamp, making for a rather hypnotic lightshow as they individually whizzed from one patch to the next. The area was thoroughly cordoned off, as the news broadcast had foretold, though a doorway of sorts constructed from scaffolding stood rigidly in a specially dug divot of the pit, serving as both the entrance and the exit to the site.

"I'm working on it," Jessie grumbled.

"Like taking candy from a togepi, eh?" Meowth recalled sardonically. "Still think we don't need pokémon now?"

"Oh grow up, you pair of useless ingrates!" the redhead finally snapped.

"What did I do?" James cried feebly.

"Shut up, James!"

"Okay."

"Well I ain't sittin' out here freezin' my tail off if we ain't got no plan," Meowth exclaimed. "We's gotta do something!"

"I said give me a minute!" Jessie shouted at him. While she wracked her brain for a solution to their quandary, Meowth turned to look at James, who was busy rummaging through a sizable duffle bag.

"Whatcha doin', Jimmy Boy?" he said.

"I always keep a few essentials with me for just such an occasion," his muffled voice sounded mirthfully from within the bag. "Ah, here we are."

Stepping backwards, James emerged from the bag holding a set of three green hazmat suits, virtually indistinguishable from those worn by the workmen across the street.

"Whoa! Where'd you get those?" asked the Scratch Cat in astonishment.

James handed out the outfits with a broad smile on his face. "Why, this is my trusty bag of tricks, Meowth! There's no costume you can think of that I don't have tucked away in here. You never know when you'll have to dress your way out of a tight situation!"

"You know, one of these days I'm going to have to take a look in that bag," Jessie grimaced warily.

"Dis is poifect!" Meowth cackled. "Now we can slip in there all incognitus and snoop around for da twoipette's pokémon!"

Jessie slipped the suit's accompanying visor over her head, stuffing her formidable hair into the back with considerable difficulty. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" she garbled through the thick plastic. "Let's go!"

Uncharacteristically, the Team Rocket trio were able to mingle in amongst the other workers with deft grace and subtlety, entering the complex without arousing any suspicion whatsoever. Once inside, however, the sight they saw – or, rather, didn't see – was far from encouraging.

"Jeez, dis place is huge!" Meowth whispered up to his teammates.

"I'm not seeing any pokémon, Jess," James said concernedly. "Nothing but dirt, dust and debris!"

"They've got to be here somewhere," Jessie persisted. "Why else would there be people around at this hour? They're obviously searching for the twerp's pokémon, and I say we beat them to the punch. Now stop your whining – grab a shovel and try to blend in."

Having no better ideas, the two could only blink, shrug and do as they were told.

The rugged expanse was, as Meowth had pointed out, enormous. It stretched out for hundreds of yards in every direction, and despite the number of workmen roaming about the site, the sheer size of it made understandably for a lot of unoccupied spots. The naïve trio slunk over to one such spot, conveniently outside of the floodlights' reach, and began to dig.

"What are we digging for, Jessie?" panted Meowth between shovel swings.

"Whatever these guys are digging for," she replied, pointing covertly around her. "Pokémon or not, it's got to be something valuable or they wouldn't be here!"

"But how will we know we've found it if we don't know what it EEEEH!"

James cut himself off as the torchlight of a similarly garbed worker flashed across his eyes.

"Er, hey, uh, mack," the former chuckled over in a strained attempt at a gravelly voice. "How 'bout this digging, huh? Think we'll be through to Pokélantis by daybreak? The guys and I have got fifty bucks on it, ehehe."

The man's expression was not visible behind the light and the darkened visor, but his tired trudging in the other direction seemed to get his point across.

"Will you quit messing around and stay focused?!" Jessie growled impatiently.

"Hehe, sorry…guess I got carried away," he said with a nervous cough.

"Hey, you three!"

The three in question all jumped simultaneously at the booming voice directed their way.

"This area was cleared two hours ago! I'm not payin' ya to drag your feet like a bunch o' worthless slakoth – now get your asses back over there!"

From his commanding tone and the slight colour variation of his suit, they deduced the approaching figure to be the site foreman: a realisation that ploughed through their resolve and sent them straight into grovelling mode.

"Waaah! Er, y-yes, sir, r-right away, Mr. Boss Guy!"

As they began to shuffle away, the imposing man stepped in front of them and eyed them through his thick safety goggles.

"Hmm…I ain't seen you around here before," he snarled, scratching the sprigs of facial hair poking out from underneath his visor.

"We, er, just got transfoi'ed from, uhh…Sinnoh! Yeah, yeah, we woiked in da mines in Oreboigh City!" Meowth quickly fabricated through a toothy grin.

The foreman crossed his arms. "I didn't hear nothin' about no transfer. Let's see some ID."

James blanched. "ID?!" he gulped. "Oh, I, er, think I left it in my other suit…"

"Y-Yeah, me too!" Jessie added.

"ID. Now," he demanded.

The trembling Team Rocket patted their clunky suits down in desperation. "A-Actually, now you mention it, I think we do have them with us, right, guys?" Jessie stammered, which the other two confirmed with hurried nods. "Darn thing m-must be in here somewhere. Now, where did I put it…"

"Sir, alpha team has just reported a level four energy spike in the south east wing," the worker standing beside the foreman chanted emotionlessly. The foreman immediately looked behind him, putting an end to the pitiful pantomime that the scene had gradually devolved into.

"Mew's sake, ya look away for just five minutes…" he grunted, then turned back to his cringing victims.

"Y'all better not be here when I get back," he warned, pointing a fat, gloved finger in their direction. Another bout of frantic head nodding followed.

"Of course, y-yes sir! I mean, er, no, s-sir! We won't let you d-down!"

Into the darkness he vanished, leaving the three stooges to stare vacantly at the dust trail kicked up in his wake.

"Well, that was awfully close," James commented with a shiver.

"Should we be worried about that energy thingy they were talking about?" asked Jessie.

"Phooey wit dat!" Meowth rebutted. "Let's just move over there and keep soichin' for deez pokémon before da big cheese comes back."

By the time forty-five minutes had elapsed, Jessie, James and Meowth had tried digging in three different corners of the ominous chasm, all the while keeping one eye on the surveillance of the suspicious foreman. The early morning air was sickeningly cold, and their repeated lack of plunder combined with the exertion of all the constant digging was rapidly wearing them down.

"Oww…" moaned a thoroughly depleted Jessie as she cracked her seething back. "This is unbelievable! How can we not have found them by now?"

"Ya know, I'm startin' to think they ain't even here," Meowth deadpanned.

"It does seem unlikely at this point," James agreed.

"That's ridiculous! Imagine what the boss will say if we_arrrryyyuugghh_…"

A dramatic yawn flew out of the disgruntled woman's mouth mid-sentence, which, for her, appeared to be the final straw.

"Grrrr, how long is this going to take?! A girl needs her beauty sleep!"

"I think it'll take more than a good night's sleep for that to happen," crooned James, his own tiredness clearly overriding his sense of tact.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

James cowered as his volatile teammate leapt towards him and smacked him square in the face with her shovel.

"AAAYYYYEEE!" he cried, soaring through the air and landing headfirst in the dense earth. "Get me out, get me out!"

His stifled voice rang out below the earth, his legs kicking animatedly in the air. When Jessie refused to help him, an indifferent-looking Meowth stepped in to dislodge the howling man from the dirt.

"Now look," Jessie huffed, "I know we're all tired, but if either of you think I'm going back to the boss empty-handed AGAIN, y-"

A peculiar twinkle caught her eye before she could finish. Whatever it was winked over at her in the gap between James and Meowth, bright blue in colour and unlike anything she'd ever seen. She pushed them to either side and discovered that it was coming from the very hole from which her catty companion had just been plucked. Down to her knees she sank, and with one strained arm thrust she delved into the darkness and scooped out a handful of…

"Soil?" James asked, bewildered.

"Blue soil?" Meowth continued.

"What on earth is this?" Jessie gasped, mesmerised by its glow. "Could this be connected to what happened to the gym?"

"Never mind that, let's swipe it before deez bozos notice!" whispered Meowth.

"Is it safe?" James queried. "It looks like it could be radioactive or something…"

"Who cares? As long as we can get a bit o' dough for it once we get it outta here!"

Jessie nodded. "Meowth's right. We may have just found something even better than pokémon here! I bet the boss'll have some poindexter in the labs who can tell us what it is. Quick, James, put it in your shirt."

"Why me?" he argued in disgust.

"Because I said so, that's why!"

She didn't wait for his retort, instead unzipping the torso of his suit and tipping the luminescent substance straight down into his overalls.

"Eeek! It's so cold!" he screeched.

"Big baby," she tutted. "Now, back to the balloon, and quickly; time for Team Rocket to make their miraculous escape…"

* * *

The next eight days were rife with worry for Misty and her friends. Though she felt very at home staying with Ash and Delia, and though her sisters had finally adjusted to living at the lab, the loom of the impending court case prevented her from allowing herself even a minute's rest. Alexa's assistance proved invaluable in preparing her for what to expect and when it was appropriate to speak at the Indigo Courthouse – but she couldn't decide whether or not the sheer lengths they were going to had only stressed her out more.

They had touched on the mystery surrounding Gyarados, of course, offering many theories as to what could have caused his uncharacteristic mania. After learning about his wariness around men, Alexa had suggested that Ash might have been the trigger, and that Gyarados may have mistaken their playing for an act of violence. Misty, however, dismissed this immediately, stating that her pokémon unconditionally trusted anyone and everyone that she herself trusted. That, and she knew better by now. Yet, the three spectators that Pikachu had tried to warn her about remained completely unplaceable, no matter how hard she thought about it. At the end of the day, she just hoped that the subject of Gyarados's behaviour would be brought up sparingly, or, even better, not at all.

On top of this, she, Ash and Brock made daily visits to the Cerulean pokémon centre, having insisted that Psyduck be moved to a more comfortable room until his transfer to Indigo Plateau. As luck would have it, Misty had been informed that the facilities there would be ready to accommodate her ailing pokémon only a day after the dreaded hearing, which would certainly make her travel arrangements from then on that much easier. In truth, the thought of handing Psyduck over to someone she neither trusted nor had ever met concerned her greatly, but all things considered, she knew in her heart that she would be willing to try anything to rescue him from the deep pain he was undoubtedly in.

It was now the morning of the twenty-third, and through the industrious yet picturesque town of Indigo Plateau trundled a car filled with nervous, smartly dressed adults.

"Indigo Plateau," Ash said to himself as he looked out of the window. "It hasn't changed a bit."

"Yep, looks exactly the same as when we were last here," Brock observed. "Hard to believe that was over ten years ago. Don't you think so, Misty?"

Between them on the back seat, their friend had been worryingly quiet the whole trip here, and Brock's question did nothing to change that.

"Misty, please try not to worry," reasoned Tracey from the driver's seat. "You've done nothing wrong, and the PokéTrust know that. They'll only get the best of you if you let them, so you've just gotta stay strong."

Looking up, the anxious redhead gave a small smile, then let her eyes fall back down to her lap. Contrary to how it probably looked, she was not upset. Just thinking. Hard. Several minutes later, the car slowed to a stop in front of an immense, church-like building adorned with golbat gargoyles and a marbled dome roof surrounded by pointed steeples.

"So, this is the Indigo Courthouse," said Alexa, dusting off her blouse as she got out of the car.

"Looks more like a haunted house," Ash mocked. Misty stared up at the intimidating structure and couldn't help but silently agree.

"It's…a lot bigger than I thought it'd be," she mumbled, the first words she had spoken all morning.

"Ah, Ms. Waterflower, how nice to see you again," came an icy, jagged voice from behind her. When she looked around, a gaunt, elderly man wearing spectacles and a long black cape stood on the granite pathway before her.

"You probably don't remember me," he stated piously, holding out a bony hand. "Cecil Sterling, chairman of the Trustees Bureau."

"Yes, I remember," Misty smiled sourly, accepting the uncomfortable handshake.

"I shall be heading the proceedings this morning; though I'm afraid to say that your punctuality will not earn you any lenience from me," he sneered with seemingly a single muscle in his face.

"Nor should it. I just thought I'd get a bit of a head start," she stood her ground as Tracey had advised.

Sterling looked down his nose through his spectacles at her. "Prudent. I trust the ushers will direct you to the correct room once the hearing begins."

With a clear of his throat, he swished his cape to one side and strode his way past them to the main door. "Best of luck, today, Ms. Waterflower," he turned back to say. "You're going to need it."

The moment he was gone, all eyes were on Misty, something that didn't exactly help with her nerves.

"So, who's Frankenstein?" Ash asked in total bewilderment.

"Councilman Sterling," Brock sighed. "He's known in the gym leaders' circle as Sterling the Stern. Real nasty piece of work."

"And he's the guy questioning us?"

"'Fraid so."

"Oh boy," Ash monotoned, all of a sudden understanding Misty's nervousness.

As the group filed inside and met with Misty's sisters (who were fashionably late, as expected), Brock and Tracey split off to find their seats in the public gallery, whereas Alexa remained with the rest for the time being.

"So, is anyone else coming today?" she asked innocently.

"Delia told me she and Professor Oak were coming up to sit in this afternoon," Misty answered rather glumly. "I'm sure they'll find Brock and Tracey once they get here."

"Ah, that's nice to hear," the journalist smiled.

The group reached the large oaken door to the main courtroom, whereupon a potbellied security guard looked each of them up and down.

"No pokémon allowed," he grunted, his eyes pointed accusatively at Pikachu on Ash's shoulder.

"If he goes, I go," Ash said without skipping a beat.

"It's alright, Ash," Alexa jumped in before the guard could riposte, "I'll take him into the press booth with me. You'll do great, both of you."

She then walked down the hall and out of sight, Pikachu sitting warily in her arms. Misty turned to Ash soon after and shuffled unconsciously closer to him.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she whispered uneasily.

The pokémon trainer looked her straight in the eye, the creamy chocolate brown of his irises instantly dulling her anxiety. "It's okay, Mist," he whispered back, "I'll be right here the whole time."

She nodded, and was about to face forward again when she saw Ash's brow crinkle in the most peculiar way.

"What is it?" she probed urgently.

He scratched his head. "Oh, it's nothing much, really," he chuckled. "Just…since when do you call my mom Delia?"

On this day of all days, the last thing Misty ever thought she would find herself doing was smiling. But then, that was Ash Ketchum for you.

"I visit your mom every fortnight while you're away," she answered plainly. "Not all of us can just wander off to see the world whenever we please, you know. Those of us who stay behind have to stick together."

As the clock above them chimed ten o'clock, the guard unceremoniously heaved open the door, from which a much more civilised usher emerged to escort them into the room. Misty didn't even bother to look around; she figured she'd have plenty of time to do that while being verbally beaten into submission over the course of the day. One thing she did notice straight away, however, was the haunting semicircle of board members across the table from her, spearheaded by none other than Mr. Sterling himself. The black cloaks he and the other bureau members were wearing did little to dispel their air of intimidation.

She sat down in her designated seat, her sisters to her left and Ash a few seats away on the right. Her head was spinning; she could barely recall the last time she'd been this nervous. In the stress and turbulence of the situation, all the young girl could do was compulsively repeat Tracey's advice in her head: _Don't let them bully you; don't let them bully you…_

"All rise," a frightfully deep voice sounded off to the side. The whole room hurriedly move to stand. Misty refocused her gaze on the board members, shuddering when she noticed each one of them staring directly at her. Above all else, she thought, this was the moment that everything finally sunk in – and she had to grip the table to keep herself from crumpling to the floor. _Oh god_, her mind screamed at her, _this is really happening…_

"This court is now in session."


	5. IV: Water in the Court

CHAPTER 4: Water in the Court

"Please be seated."

The disembodied voice over the speakers rang in Misty's ears long after it had sounded out. With a strong but shaky inhale, she retook her seat at the enormous circular table and cast a glance at her largely unfazed sisters.

"Let me do the talking," she whispered to them, her tone suggesting more of a warning than a request.

"Hey, why are we here again?" Violet whispered back, only proving her eye-rolling sister's point.

Each cloaked member of the PokéTrust then sequentially billowed down into their chestnut thrones, creating an unsettlingly symmetrical rippling effect. The occupant of the middle chair, one arched and condor-like man whom Misty had already had the misfortune of running into that morning, cleared his throat and tapped at the microphone suspended on a stalk from the table in front of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he wheezed, "my name is Councilman Cecil G. Sterling, and on behalf of the Pokémon League Trustees Bureau, I welcome you to the Indigo Courthouse." He leered disdainfully over at the Sensational Sisters. "Or, to the three of you there, should I say welcome back?"

"I knew it," Misty tutted to herself upon seeing the trio of guilty smirks to her left.

"Note the time as 10:02am," Sterling snapped to a stenographer across the table. "Now, without further ado, I hereby call this meeting to order."

Another board member, just as decrepit but unnoteworthy in practically every other way, rose up from his chair and began to read aloud from the stack of neatly shuffled papers in his hands.

"At approximately 1730 hours on the evening of August 14, an incident occurred at the Cerulean City Pokémon Gym that resulted in the destruction of eighty-six percent on the building, the damages costing an estimated total of…"

Though quite clearly a matter of paramount importance, Misty's attention was quickly wavering. The tiresome drawl of the speaker notwithstanding, his monologue practically confirmed all of the young girl's fears concerning this day: it was all about the money to them. Not once had she, Ash, her sisters or her pokémon even been mentioned in the five or so minutes the briefing had been going on. All they seemed to be bothered about was the "embarrassment" of losing one of their gyms in the run-up to the Indigo League. She clenched her fists underneath the table. Maybe fighting her corner during this hearing would be harder than she'd thought…

As the dreary man continued to drone on, she decided to take this opportunity to look around the immense chamber she would be trapped in for the remainder of the day. The Indigo Courthouse was, indeed, a deeply impressive place. From the towering ceiling to the twisted pillars along the walls, almost every surface in the room was finished in a varnished, caramel-coloured pine, visually stunning but positively reeking of decadence. Triangular seating areas were nestled in each of the four corners; the two on hers and Ash's side for the public, and the other two for journalists and Pokémon League staff. Facing forward, Misty could see Alexa and Pikachu seated in the press booth at the far left, as well as a number of familiar faces in the far-right gallery, most of them her fellow gym leaders: the stoic Sabrina, the formidable Lt. Surge, the mild-mannered Erika, and even Brock's younger brother, Forrest, having taken over as the leader of Pewter City's gym last year. Also amongst the congregation were the current Elite Four, from which the fiery-haired Lance stood out instantly, and, to her surprise, Agent Joy of the Pokémon Inspection Agency, a woman she had not seen since her return to Cerulean City all those years ago. It wasn't a time she particularly liked to think about – though even that aside, seeing all of those important faces staring over at her, especially in circumstances like these, was beyond intimidating.

The key personnel of the hearing – namely herself, Ash, her sisters, the PokéTrust and the stenographer – were sat around a smooth, circular table, colossal in size and indented in the centre to resemble a pokéball. Against the far wall behind the pompous trustees, Misty could see two identical Officer Jennies standing apart with arms folded, while stationed between them was a sight decidedly more unusual: an alakazam, poised but hauntingly still, the two iconic spoons in its hands reflecting the intermittent glow from its sharp and unblinking eyes. She began to wonder if it belonged to the courthouse, or, like seemingly many others here, was simply here for the show. Given Mr. Sterling's ominous warning earlier, it was surely bound to be a good one…

Out of the corner of her eye, Misty sensed Ash looking in her direction, and she turned her head to the right to see him smile softly over to her. It was the crooked kind, the precise one she remembered from their childhood, and something about the sight of it calmed her almost completely – as well as sending the butterfree in her stomach wild. Or maybe that was the suit he was wearing. Bizarrely, such formal dress became the typically ragtag man rather well. She didn't look too bad herself in her good white blouse and salveyo green skirt; it was a shame to have to debut the dignified look on a gloomy occasion like this, though she had to admit that the loose bun she had tied her hair into complemented the outfit immaculately. Of course, this was hardly her main concern right now, as a sudden turn in the ongoing announcements was quick to remind her.

"…Henceforth, we move to question Ms. Misty Waterflower, Cerulean City gym leader and prime suspect of said incident."

_Prime suspect?!_ Misty mouthed silently. That didn't sound promising.

"Thank you," Sterling muttered as the announcer sat back down. "Now, enough of that. Misty – I can call you Misty, yes?"

"Ms. Waterflower will be fine," she stated firmly, albeit having to dig her fingernails into her palm to keep from shuddering.

Sterling leaned back in his chair, a mixture of surprise and amusement on his face. "As you wish," he sneered. "So, let's start from the beginning, shall we?"

Suddenly, every eye in the room was on Misty. She gulped, a prickly heat rising up her body.

"Well, er…" she faltered. "Ash came to visit me at the gym, and we had a pokémon battle-"

"By 'Ash', I take it you are referring to one Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, the sole person with you at the time of the incident?"

A simple yes-no question this may have been, Sterling's tone of impatience altered Misty's tack in a heartbeat. Today was going to be long enough already – did they really have to be so obtuse?

"What do you think?" she answered tartly. "Look, I really don't see the point in making me tell this whole story again. You must have read my police statement by now; if you know everything I'm going to say, then why are you even bothering to ask me?"

Once again, Sterling waved off the comment with a sickening grin. "Well, I'm certainly glad you acknowledged your little chat with Officer Jenny," he remarked, "because I happen to have a transcript of that very conversation right here. Now, let's see…"

His skeletal finger scraped along the paper in front of him. "Ah yes," he cackled, "quite an amusing story, I think we'll all agree – though I'm afraid a little…far-fetched…for my tastes…"

"What have farfetch'd got to do with this?" Ash whispered stealthily over his shoulder. Brock, seated only a few metres behind the boy, simply shook his head.

"But it's true!" Misty insisted, shocked.

"Well, I believe that remains to be seen," quipped Sterling. "Now, since you've refused to do so, allow me to summarise for the benefit of the gallery." He perched his spectacles further down on his nose. "If I'm understanding this correctly, your statement seems to suggest that the Cerulean City gym, a building that has served the Pokémon League ever since its inception, was destroyed not by fire, not by an electrical malfunction, and not even by an excessively violent pokémon battle, but…" a yellow-toothed grin appeared on his face, "a _psyduck_ with a sore head!"

Immediately, a chorus of haughty laughter seeped out from the semicircle of PokéTrust members. Misty felt her face heating up even more.

"I'm _not_ lying," she retorted, her teeth clenched.

"You said, and I quote, 'Psyduck has a history of uncontrollable headaches. Whenever he is-' – my word – 'hit on the head, his eyes glow blue and he…unleashes his psychic power…"

"Yes, that's right," Misty confirmed.

"You also went on to say that your psyduck was concussed by a falling diving board, and the resulting pain in its head was powerful enough to level the entire building."

"Yes," she nodded again.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Waterflower, but do you honestly expect us to believe this?"

The redhead blinked in surprise. "What?"

"While it is well-documented that psyduck are capable of latent psychic power that they themselves are not aware of," Sterling stated plainly, "the idea that such power could reduce a League-built pokémon gym to a mere crater? Preposterous!"

"If you please, sir," came a meek voice from the public gallery behind Misty. When she turned around, a comfortingly familiar woman had risen to her feet. "I've been treating Misty's psyduck for the past week now, and I'm afraid I must disagree."

"Nurse Joy, always a pleasure," the chairman said in a manner anything but sincere. "Though I caution you, if you're about to show us that security footage again…"

"I am," she boldly confirmed.

Sterling sighed. "Very well. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll direct your attention to the screen…"

On his command, several wall panels slid downwards to reveal large and gleaming TV monitors. What appeared on them moments later was the same chilling security video that had haunted Misty and Ash ever since they had first been shown it.

"We started to notice a change in Psyduck's behaviour at around 10pm the night of the incident," Joy explained over the video. "I took the liberty of speeding up the following time lapse."

Indeed, the next few hours whizzed by on the screen, showing the same blinding glow and gradual flattening of the furniture. As the footage came to an end, Sterling gave a ragged clear of his throat.

"Yes, yes, I think we're all _au fait_ with this scene by now," he deadpanned. "I take it we are to assume that the nebulous light in the centre is the psyduck in question?"

"It is," said Joy.

"And yet one finds it difficult to identify _anything_ on the quality of footage you've brought us! Wouldn't we all agree?"

More chuntering broke out among the pompous trustees, causing Joy's brow to furrow.

"Please, listen to me," she persisted. "You can check the logs, the patient records, anything, but I give you my word that the light you see in this video is originating from Misty's psyduck."

"Records can easily be fabricated," Sterling proselytised, "as can a shoddy security video, in fact! You say this is Psyduck, but I, for one, think it rather fails to appear…psyduck-shaped, don't you? Very _convenient_, I should say."

Both Misty and Nurse Joy were lost for words. Were they really hearing this? Sterling, on the other hand, was clearly just getting warmed up.

"And, speaking of which, the statement also mentions that the elder Waterflower sisters, namely Daisy, Violet and Lily, were nowhere to be seen. Coincidence? Or a premeditated strategy to avoid being harmed?"

"Well, those cute sandals weren't gonna, like, buy themselves," Violet spoke up in total innocence. The grunting old man creaked forward.

"Ms. Waterflower, I'll remind you that your presence here along with that of the so-called Sensational Sisters is merely a formality. Put simply, we are talking to your sister, and your sister only."

As Violet shrunk back down, Misty suddenly slammed both her hands down on the table.

"What do you mean 'premeditated'?" she yelled forward. "Are you suggesting we planned to destroy our own gym?!"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting, young lady," he calmly said.

"What?! H-How dare you! What gives you the right to say that?!"

"I have every right, my dear. Is it not true that you renewed your insurance policy on the gym just two weeks before this event?"

"Renewed our…? No! We haven't done that for ages!"

"Uh, Misty…"

The red-faced girl turned around to be greeted with the sight of an equally red-faced Daisy.

"I…may have, like, done it without you," the elder sister murmured guiltily.

"You what?" Misty hissed back at her. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"You were in a battle! And the deadline was in, like, an hour, so I just went ahead and filled in the form!"

"And you didn't think to tell me?!"

"I forgot! I didn't know it was important!"

"Am I interrupting something?" Sterling sassed, after which the flustered sisters faced forward again.

"Well, so what if we did renew our insurance?" Misty eventually said. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I believe I was getting to that," he replied as he sat up straight. "Now, allow me to tell you what _I _think happened the evening the Cerulean gym was destroyed."

_I wish you would_, she thought, both with anger and apprehension.

"Based on the evidence we have examined this morning, both from yourself and from the, ahem…dutiful Nurse Joy, it is the opinion of the Pokémon League Trustees Bureau that an explosive device of unknown origin was detonated inside the battle area, specifically designed to leave no trace after exploding and thus removing any damning links to the person or persons responsible."

For almost ten seconds, an echoey silence washed across the courtroom like a fire blanket snuffing out a flame. This proved to be short-lived, however, as the fire swelling within the young woman would take far more than that to extinguish.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"

Though several PokéTrust members recoiled in startlement, Sterling remained rigid as if he were nailed to his chair.

"Quite the contrary," he remarked offhandedly, "but please, do elaborate."

Misty gripped the table in rage. "You're seriously saying that we set a bomb off in our own home, just for the insurance money?!"

"You wouldn't be the first, Ms. Waterflower. The Pokémon League has run afoul of many a conniving opportunist over the years."

"That doesn't mean I'm one of them! How could we even get hold of a bomb like that?"

Again, Sterling just grinned. "I was hoping you'd ask. As well as your police statement, Officer Jenny was kind enough to send over a number of interesting files detailing your encounters with the criminal organisation, Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?" she repeated.

"Not only that, but it seems that your friend Mr. Ketchum here, who was, _conveniently_, also in the gym with you, has had run-ins with practically every villainous team there is! Most recently, so I'm told, Team Plasma of the Unova region. I'm sure they could have taught you a thing or two about explosives, no?"

"HEY!"

Misty jumped as Ash unexpectedly sprung up from his seat, his brown eyes blazing red.

"Who do you think you are accusing us of something like that?! Misty and I have spent years protecting pokémon from Team Rocket and all of those other pokénapping lowlifes! We'd never dream of working with them!"

Sterling seemed affronted by the interruption. "Mr. Ketchum, the court would ask that-"

"I don't give a damn what the court would ask! Misty is the kindest, truest, most amazing person I've ever met, and I'm proud to call her my best friend! I'm not gonna just sit by while you drag her family's name through the mud, you hear me?!"

His rant trailed off, though Ash kept standing, staring forward with his teeth bared like a wild mightyena. Misty replayed the words in her head, having to make doubly sure she'd heard them properly. They sounded so foreign coming from her best friend's mouth – but the searing heat in her cheeks reminded her that she could not very well complain. Sterling, meanwhile, though visibly taken aback by the outburst, merely pressed his lips together and interlaced his fingers in front of him.

"Perhaps this is a good time for a short break," he eventually suggested, his voice as eerily calm as ever. The ushers at the doors moved to evacuate the public galleries. "I recommend you take this time to rehydrate yourselves and get some fresh air. Presumably this will be enough of an interval for you to…cool off."

Without another word, he rose to his feet, cloak blooming around him, and disappeared swiftly and silently through the door from whence he had come.

* * *

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!"

A nearby bin went crashing to the floor.

"WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS?!"

The apple her friend was holding soon made a squishing sound beneath her foot.

"Hey, I was enjoying that!" Ash whined.

"Stupid…stuck-up…self-righteous…" Each footstep rattled louder and louder on the marble floor. "Let's see how 'trusting' he is when I shove that bureau right up his-"

"Misty, calm down!" he tried again.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she bellowed back. "Didn't you hear what he said? Those jumped-up old relicanth think I blew up my gym just to get some goddamn compensation!"

"But we know that's not true! We can still convince them!"

"Oh really? Well, you're welcome to give it a shot when we go back in, Mr. Silver Tongue, because I'm sure as hell out of ideas!"

Dizzy with rage and upset, Misty sat herself down at the foot of a gigantic dragonite-shaped fountain and began to growl periodically into her lap. She didn't care that she was slap-bang in the middle of the courthouse foyer, in plain view of the dozens of bemused onlookers; as soon as she'd seen that clear, glistening liquid from across the hall, her warpath had intentionally been veering that way, for if anything had a chance of comforting her at this time, it was the cleansing feel of water on her skin.

"Man, she's, like, stressing me out," Lily grimaced. "I totally need some coffee."

Her sisters nodded, along with Tracey. "I'll bring some back for everyone," the latter offered. He then turned to Misty, relieved to see her already looking less agitated as she circled her hand around in the fountain water. "Can I get you anything, Misty?"

"Not hungry," she sighed towards the floor. Tracey gave a sad smile, then headed down the hall with the Sensational Sisters to the food court.

"Sterling the Stern? Tch. Sterling the _Stone_ more like," Misty grumbled to herself.

"Pikachupi…" Pikachu whined, tapping the sullen girl affectionately on the head.

"I'd sure love to give that guy a piece of my mind," grunted Ash. Brock stepped into his view.

"Well, you're about to get that chance, Ash, because I'm guessing you're up next."

"Alright! Wait, what?"

The former gym leader nodded. "Yeah. After lunch, they always seem to move on to the witnesses. Since you're the only one, I imagine they'll want to grill you for quite some time."

Ash reached up to turn his cap backwards, only to suddenly remember he was not wearing it. "Ehehe…" he chuckled. "Well, bring it on, then! I'm not afraid of them!"

His naïve zeal caused Misty to growl so harshly that she had to hold back a violent coughing fit.

"Will you please use your brain for once in your life?!" she shouted. "Think about what's happened already, what they're saying I've done. They don't care about me, or Psyduck, or anyone but their own damn selves! D'you think they're suddenly going to listen to you? God, this is so much worse than I thought…"

"Whoa! Since when do you give up like this, Mist?"

"SINCE PSYDUCK DROPPED MY HOUSE ON HIS HEAD, THAT'S WHEN!"

Ash moved to console her, but a lightning fast glare stopped him in his tracks. The movement seemed to cause a kind of rift in the group, leaving Brock, Alexa and Pikachu feeling rather caught in the crossfire. It came as a great relief, then, when Daisy returned to dole out the veritable wagonload of drinks and snacks her fiancé had bought them.

"Hey, so did anyone else see that alakazam at the back of the room?" Ash asked soon after with a mouthful of sandwich. "What's up with that?"

Tracey cleared his throat seeing as no-one else looked in any great hurry to answer the boy.

"I think they use an alakazam in court as a kind of lie detector when witnesses are brought in," he declared. "Isn't that what you were saying earlier, Brock?"

"Yep, that's right," Brock affirmed.

"A lie detector?" a puzzled Ash asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, since Alakazam is a psychic pokémon, it can sense changes in the brain activity of humans, which it uses to determine whether we're telling the truth or not. Or something like that, anyway. I'm sure Professor Oak could explain it better."

Ash still appeared confused. "But who would lie in a place like this?"

Brock chuckled warmly. "Not everyone's as honest as you, Ash. Though just to be on the safe side, best not to get too…creative with your answers, eh?"

"Er, sure, Brock," Ash laughed in a tentatively trusting manner.

As silence threatened to ensnare them a second time, Tracey quickly came up with something in his haste to avoid such a quandary.

"Phew. You sure weren't kidding when you said that Sterling guy was a nasty piece of work. Talk about brutal!"

"I'll be honest, I don't remember him being this bad at any of my mom's hearings," Brock admitted. "But then, that was nearly twenty years ago…"

"I couldn't believe what he was saying! He basically rejected everything Misty and Nurse Joy said, like the PokéTrust had already made up its mind! It's incredible to think that the Pokémon League is really run by someone like that."

"You're telling me," Alexa concurred with a shake of her head. "Hey, whaddaya reckon the 'G' in his name stands for? Garchomp?" Brock snorted with laughter.

"My guess would be Grimer," he joined in, causing more sniggering among the group.

"Or Gyarados!" Ash exclaimed. "Haha, that's perfect! Right, guys? Guys?"

The laughter had come to an abrupt end, and the collection of heads turned towards Misty, let alone the look on said girl's face, should have been enough to clue him in as to why.

"Don't," Misty breathed, low and husky.

"Huh?" Ash blurted out, confirming that he still had no idea. "Don't what? All I said was- mmfphh!"

Before he could dig himself in deeper, Brock came to the rescue with a large hand to clamp over the young man's mouth. Sighing, he whispered the vital reminder to him as covertly as possible, after which Ash scratched his head awkwardly and turned his guilty gaze to his shoes.

"Ohhhh…" he winced in realisation. Misty, having unwillingly heard every word, heaved herself up with a pained groan.

"We've probably got hours of this to go yet," she said solemnly. "What happens after they bring up Gyarados could be the final straw for them. If they say I'm not fit to keep him, I'll…I-I mean I don't know wh-what I'll…"

She broke off just as the heaviness in her chest began to choke her words. The situation was heartbreaking, and the attention currently on her was only making things worse. Rarely did she let herself feel as numb and defeated as this – but she would not cry. Not when her friends, Gyarados, and Psyduck needed her to be strong.

"Misty," Ash said, "we're not beaten yet. You hear me?"

He stepped forward and twisted her around by the shoulders to face him. "If there's one thing the PokéTrust must be able to see, it's how much your pokémon mean to you. Gyarados wouldn't act like that unless he had a good reason to, right?"

All Misty could do was stare up at him as he spoke. The look of care and sincerity in his russet eyes was warming, inviting…hypnotic…

"They're not going to take him, Mist. Not him, not Psyduck, not any of them. We won't let that happen." He smiled in the boyish way only he knew how. "_I_ won't let that happen."

* * *

Returning to the courtroom was by no means an easy task. After the hammering they took in the first half, Ash and Misty were far more nervous now than they had been at the start of the day. The one saving grace was that it was somehow past midday already, reminding them that whatever horrors still lay in wait for them, at least half of the experience was over and done with.

"Everyone, welcome back," Mr. Sterling coughed into the microphone. The galleries took their seats with an incongruous rumbling and clattering, something that only put Misty more on edge.

"Now, seeing as our last discussion caused some, ahem, tempers to fray," he glared down his nose across the table, "I propose we move on for the time being. Mr. Ketchum, on your feet."

Ash's heart leapt. Now all eyes were on him, and not in the exhilarating way the stadium regular was used to. As he moved to stand, he suddenly realised just how it felt to be Misty in this situation.

"For the record, please state your full name, place of birth and relationship to Ms. Waterflower," Sterling said tiredly. Ash cleared his throat.

"Ash Ketchum…uh, Pallet Town, and um, Misty – I mean, er, Ms. Waterflower – is my best friend."

At the back, Alakazam's eyes slowly closed, a sign that could easily be read as deep concentration.

"How quaint," the chairman sneered with that same one facial muscle. "Okay, Mr. Ketchum, since your dear friend declined, why don't you give us _your_ take on this whole debacle?"

"Well, er," Ash cleared his throat again, "I'd just come back from Unova, and I decided to stop by Cerulean City before I left for the Kalos region."

"Ah, now there's a thought. Forgive the interruption, but why were you there?"

"What, Cerulean? Well, to visit Misty, what else?"

Sterling stroked his chin. "Tell me, Mr. Ketchum: as such a dedicated traveller, do you visit Ms. Waterflower often?"

"Er, well," Ash thought, "not as often as I'd like…"

Misty looked down to hide the involuntary smile that had appeared on her face.

"Is that so? Then I'm sure you can recall when your last rendezvous was before now, yes?"

"Sure I can! It was in the middle of my Sinnoh journey. I stopped off at home, and Misty was there-"

"Sinnoh, eh?" He clawed at the pages of the file in front of him. "So, if we are to go by the timeline of your League conference entries, that would make your last visit approximately…dear me…three years ago?"

With this question came a flurry of low muttering between the board members, as if some grand revelation had just been unearthed. Whatever it was, Misty did not like the sound of it.

"Y-Yeah, that's right," Ash confirmed.

"Three years," Sterling repeated, the facetiousness palpable in his thorny voice. "Such an unforgiving stretch of time to spend apart. My, one might even wonder how you and Ms. Waterflower even know one another at all by now!"

Ash gritted his teeth. "Misty knows me better than anyone," he rebutted. "Where are you going with this?"

"Yet, it just so happens that your first reunion, your first _tête-à-tête_, if you will, with Ms. Waterflower in _three years_ should coincide precisely with this tragic and mysterious incident." He looked left and right along the table. "Fellow Bureau members, is it just me who finds this turn of events rather…convenient timing?"

A collective gasp escaped from the corners of the room, during which Misty turned to look past her stunned friend at where Brock and Tracey were sitting. Delia and Professor Oak were sitting close by, and all four of them shot her identical looks of foreboding concern.

"How can you even joke about that?!" Ash barked. "There's nothing convenient about what happened that day! And jeez, stop saying that word!"

"I assure you, Mr. Ketchum, I was not joking. But please, do carry on."

"Look, it was the battle Misty and I had that led to Psyduck getting that giant headache. Isn't the League supposed to cover all damage caused by a gym battle?"

Sterling chuckled along with several other trustees. "Evidently it pays to have friends in the gym leaders' circle," he said with malicious amusement. "How right you are, young man. It is League policy to compensate a gym leader for any damage caused by a challenger – provided, of course, that it was in an official gym battle. I trust you have your Cascade Badge to prove as much?"

Ash's face fell. "We, er, weren't battling for a badge…"

"No? Oh dear, so the battle was not official? How unfortunate."

The deeper his sarcasm sank in, the more Misty felt tears of pure rage building behind her eyes.

"Unless, that is, the referee present during the battle can present a convincing argument to the contrary."

Ash and Misty looked blankly at each other across the table.

"Uhh…" Ash vocalised.

"Oh, come now," Sterling teased, clearly enjoying every moment of this. "Surely you don't mean to tell me you were battling completely unsupervised, do you?"

"Pika, pika chu!"

The unflappable man turned his head to the press booth in the corner to his right.

"There are no pokémon permitted in this courtroom," he scowled. "To whom does this irksome pikachu belong?"

"That's my pikachu," Ash stated proudly. "What is it, buddy?"

"Pikapi, pika chu Pikachupi, ka chu!" cried the loyal mouse with accompanying arm movements. The miming unexpectedly caught the attention of Alakazam, whose eyes reopened and focused intently on the flailing little pokémon.

"Do I take it you are claiming to be the referee of the battle between Ms. Waterflower and Mr. Ketchum?" Sterling was quick to catch on. An innocent nod was enough to send him and the entire bureau into a frenzy of cackling.

"A pokémon judging a pokémon battle?" one member said.

"And I thought I'd seen everything!" howled another.

"That will be enough, gentlemen," Sterling shushed a moment later. "Though I'm afraid they are correct, little pikachu. Admirable as your intentions are, an official pokémon battle must be overseen by a League sanctioned battle judge or senior staff member of the gym in question, and not, thank heavens, a mere _pokémon_…"

Pikachu's ears drooped. He sunk back down onto Alexa's lap and hung his head in disappointment.

"Hey, you can't talk to Pikachu like that!" Ash shouted.

"I believe I can, Mr. Ketchum," he replied brusquely, "and I'd thank you to watch your tone when addressing this bureau. But we shall move on again for now. As it happens, your pokémon's little outburst has reminded me of another point I wish to raise."

_What now?_ Ash thought in genuine incredulity. Misty, however, had a feeling what was about to come, and thus the nausea she was experiencing amplified tenfold.

"I'd like, if you will, to discuss the circumstances of the apparent 'falling diving board' you and Ms. Waterflower mentioned in your statements."

"Erm, okay?"

More documents were flicked through and flung about. "Now, you and your friend's respective stories match up rather well, all things considered," he began. "However, there was one glaring discrepancy that seemed to raise more questions than it answered. Humour me: on a scale of one to ten, how well would you say dear Ms. Waterflower treats her pokémon?"

Ash did a double take – as did Misty, Brock and much of the audience. "Huh?!" he spluttered. "Well, er, ten! M-More than ten! Misty loves all of her pokémon like they were her own children – what the hell kind of a question is that?!"

"I anticipated you would say that," Sterling nodded, "so, with that in mind, I expect you'll be able to clear up this little inconsistency in no time."

Taking in a long and whistling breath, the old man leaned forward, his liver-spotted brow knitting together. "Ms. Waterflower's statement merely states that the diving board fell over and landed on Psyduck's head, whereas _you_ said – ahem – 'Gyarados started acting weird during the battle, then totally flipped out and crashed his head into the diving board'." He moved his spectacles further down his nose. "Care to elaborate?"

_Oh no_, Misty pronounced inaudibly. This was exactly what she'd feared…

"Elaborate?" Ash asked, perplexed. "Uh, I don't really know what else to say."

"How well do you know Ms. Waterflower's gyarados, Mr. Ketchum?"

"Er, not as well as some of her other pokémon, but still pretty well, I guess."

"And have you known it to disobey its trainer like this before?"

"No, of course not! I know how well Misty trains her pokémon; it'd never disobey her on purpose!"

"Until now, clearly."

Ash growled. "What does this even have to do with anything? Aren't you supposed to be asking about the gym?"

"And so I am, dear boy," Sterling answered. "If this whole incident was set in motion by Gyarados's apparent 'tantrum', as it were, then it is vital to examine what caused it. Pieces to the puzzle."

The pokémon trainer sighed, despite knowing the man had a point.

"So, I'm sure we're all aware that gyarados are, as a whole, quite a temperamental species," the latter continued. "A spell of arbitrary violence would not exactly be unexpected – yet, in the case of such a _well-trained, well-behaved_ gyarados, such an event is very peculiar indeed! Any thoughts, Mr. Ketchum?"

"Look," Ash retorted angrily, "I don't know what happened that day, but what I do know is that it's got nothing to do with Misty treating Gyarados bad! I've known Misty since I was ten years old, and I know her pokémon would never freak out like that for no reason!"

"How interesting," Sterling concluded, "because I have evidence here of one instance where that is just not the case."

Misty gulped, while Ash looked over at her concernedly. He would fight to the bitter end, that much he knew; but even he would admit that this was not going well.

"Behold, an incident recorded by the Pokémon Inspection Agency almost seven years ago. I believe the agent who observed said incident is here with us today; do you confirm that the events depicted in this report are purely factual?"

"I…do," Agent Joy said from the gallery to his left. Her tone of voice, along with the quick glance she shot over at Misty, seemed oddly apologetic.

"Now, I am paraphrasing here," Sterling muttered, "but the Cerulean gym was without a gym leader for at least a week by the time Agent Joy stepped in. Ms. Waterflower arrived to find a gyarados raging uncontrollably and thus posing a great threat to the safety of challengers and their pokémon. She tried to return it to its pokéball, only for it to ignore her completely and cause considerable damage to the arena and surrounding equipment. Fellow bureau members, does this sound like an acceptable level of control to you?"

Misty stood up with such force that her chair toppled over behind her.

"Are you kidding me?!" she yelled. "That's completely out of context – and it was seven goddamn years ago! Do you even hear yourself?!"

"Enough," he snapped. "You have had your turn to speak, Ms. Waterflower. And Mr. Ketchum, I think we've heard all we need to from you now, too. Bring in the next witnesses."

"Next witnesses?" Ash spoke up. "I thought I was the only one!"

An usher at the side of the room nodded and disappeared silently through the door he was guarding. He returned minutes later with three male figures trailing behind him, each wearing hats, sunglasses and long, black trench coats. There was not much to differentiate them, save for the lankiness of the first one and the short rotundness of the second. The third seemed rather nondescript, though when Misty squinted her eyes to get a closer look, she could faintly see a few spiky strands of hair poking out around his hat. _One tall, one fat, one pointy_, she suddenly recalled, a realisation that knocked the wind right out of her chest. The description Pikachu gave fit them perfectly – they had to have been the ones to rattle Gyarados! But it was too early to call yet; she had to be absolutely sure…

"I understand the three of you have chosen to remain anonymous," Sterling said as they sat down a couple of chairs away from Ash.

"That's right," the tall one affirmed. The courtroom was awash with puzzled and frustrated expressions, but the PokéTrust paid no mind.

"In that case, gentlemen, welcome to the Indigo Courthouse."

"Pleasure to be here," grinned the pointy one. "Hope the boys 'n' I'll be able to set the record straight."

Many miles away, in a spacious but dimly lit room, an extraordinary power began to stir…

* * *

"Sir, Jessie, James and Meowth are here to see you."

Giovanni sighed a long and familiar sigh. "Thank you, Matori. Send them in."

The doors to the office slid open, and in stumbled the ever-incompetent trio of Team Rocket operatives, each of them grinning ear to ear.

"This had better be good," he groaned.

"Oh it is, boss, it sure is!" Jessie beamed. "You'll never guess what we found in the wreckage of Cerulean City's gym!"

"You mean the gym that's so lifeless and barren that even the police have abandoned it by now?" Matori sniped, earning her a scowl of disgust.

"My secretary's scepticism is a feeling I share," Giovanni commented. "We surveyed the site aerially and concluded there was nothing to gain; all of the pokémon were transported out of the building on the night of the incident."

Meowth's eyes bulged. "We, er, knew dat," he lied through a cartoonish grin, "but we's got somet'ing better than pokémon here!"

Atop the Team Rocket boss's table, a sleek white persian slinked from one end to the other, its slitty eyes never leaving its drivelling pre-evolved form. Meowth responded with a look of equal contempt.

"Given your track record, you'll forgive me if I don't rush to congratulate you," Giovanni uttered dryly. "Exactly when did you obtain this, this…whatever it is?"

"We went undercover the night after the incident and recovered it from the site," James stated with evident pride.

Giovanni sat up. "You mean to tell me that you've had an item of value for over a week and have failed to deliver it until now?"

"We, um, got sidetracked," Jessie mumbled, ignoring the eye rolling from Matori's direction.

"Looking for opportunities to steal more pokémon, of course," James jumped in.

"And we DEFINITELY ain't spent da last week fallin' down holes we dug for da twoips!" chuckled Meowth as he scratched behind his head.

"I'm sure," their superior snarled. "Now, show me what you've obtained before I have you thrown out."

Jessie pushed James forward. "You heard him, James! Where is it?"

Nodding, the blue-haired man produced a small canvas bundle from his pocket and held it up in front of him. "Here you go, boss!" he chirped. "I kept it safe and sound for you!"

Giovanni barely had a chance to catch a glimpse of said bundle before its contents were turned upside down and tipped right onto his desk.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" he boomed, causing James to drop the bag and scurry back to his teammates.

"W-We were actually hoping you could tell us, sir," Jessie piped up, "or, rather, one of your scientists, ehehe."

"I do not need a scientist to tell me that you incompetent fools have just deposited a sack full of dirt all over my mother's priceless walnut desk!" His dark eyes, initially wide with shock, were now sharp and hostile. "Now get out of here at once!"

"Wait, boss!" Meowth objected. "Ya gotta see what dis stuff does!"

"And what exactly does it 'do', may I ask?" Giovanni deadpanned, sitting back in his chair.

"It glows! Or, it did when we found it, anyways. Just give 'er some time to warm up!"

Many awkward seconds passed by, and nary a wink of light sprung forth from the hardened soil.

"Any minute now…" James added hopefully.

The large clock in the office ticked on and on, yet still there was nothing to be seen.

"Well?" Giovanni exhaled.

"Oh, not to worry, it does this all the time, heehee," Jessie waved off with painfully artificial laughter. "Just needs some, er…encouragement, that's all! Come on, soily! That's it, you clever little dirt pile, you! Glow for auntie Jessie!"

Several increasingly asinine attempts later, the trio frowned at each other before letting out a simultaneous sigh of defeat.

"Stellar job, as usual," Matori quipped, her apparent emotionlessness only accentuating the sarcasm behind her words.

"It's true!" Jessie insisted. "I swear, boss, it was the brightest thing I've ever seen!"

"As blue as Jimmy's 'do!" Meowth said while pointing towards James's head.

Giovanni closed his eyes, massaging the parts of his forehead that made up his signature widow's peak.

"First, you come in here with nothing to show for the money I've invested in you," he spoke steadily, "then you deface my office and proceed to waste my valuable time trying to defend your own pitiful efforts." Persian sniffed at the seemingly inconspicuous earth before curling up haughtily in his master's lap. "You three are pathetic. Why I continue to allow your constant failures is beyond me."

What should have been a rather crushing remark was instead one that filled the hapless band with curious resolve.

"Why, our failures help us to prepare for trouble!" Jessie cried dramatically.

"Throw in all our medalling and make it double!" James joined in with a flourish.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to-"

"ENOUGH!"

The exclamation threw off the mid-air Meowth just as he was about to jump in to play his part in the fanfare. Instead, he barrelled straight into his human companions, sending all three of them crumpling loudly and tragically to the floor.

"Must I be subjected to that incessant dirge _every_ time you string of simpletons clatter into my office?!" bit Giovanni, his crinkled brow showing multiple stress lines. "For the life of me, I have no idea where my operatives are getting these ridiculous mottos."

"It's our callin' card!" Meowth explained. "How else is the twoips gunna know ta prepare for trouble if we don't let 'em know it's comin'?"

"I'll say this once more, and once more only: Team Rocket has only ever had and _will_ only ever have _one_ core oath."

He clicked his fingers, upon which the two Rocket grunts either side of the door along with Matori began to chant:

"Steal pokémon for profit. Exploit pokémon for profit. All pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket."

Jessie scrunched her nose up at the quiet smugness with which Matori seemed to be reciting the words.

"Oh, but sir," a suddenly concerned James pleaded, "don't you think that one is a little…drab? It doesn't even rhyme!"

"GET OUT!"

A few startled shrieks and three gusts of wind saw Team Rocket's wackiest agents swiftly vacating the building before another word could be said.

"Those three are going to be the death of me," Giovanni said to himself once there was quiet again.

"More like the ruin of this organisation," his bespectacled secretary opined.

He looked down at the rubble covered surface. "Have the design department send up new copies of these blueprints. And someone get this disgusting filth off my desk before I-"

In the periphery of his vision, from the spot on which James had emptied the bag, a tiny light gave a solitary flicker. The most ephemeral thing, over in a blink of an eye, but almost blinding in brightness. He edged closer only to see that a vestige of the light was still there, still lingering in the crusted loam, and every soft pulse it made seemed to breathe more life into its aura. It was only a matter of seconds before every crumb of soil on the desk shone the bluest of blues.

"What the…?" Matori cried in awe. "They were actually telling the truth?!"

Giovanni saw no sense in panicking, instead gingerly reaching for the telephone and punching in a number he knew by rote.

"Get me Professor Sebastian."

* * *

Misty could not tear her eyes away from the three mystery witnesses. They had appeared out of nowhere, just when things couldn't possibly get any worse. She was sure there was no-one else in the gym that day, so whatever it was that they could possibly have witnessed escaped her completely. And why the disguises? This hearing wasn't exactly in the public spotlight; what was there to hide?

_Who are you?_ she mused over and over again. Everything was up in the air now. Whatever they were about to say had the potential to make or break her case – if it wasn't broken enough already…

"Well then, gentlemen, in your own time," Sterling prompted oddly courteously.

The fat one stood up clumsily. "So we were sitting up in the stands just mindin' our own business…"

"Ah, so you confirm that you were in the Cerulean gym on the day of the incident?"

"Sure do!"

"And why, may I ask?"

The tall one pulled his pudgy associate back down. "Last I checked, there weren't no rules against members of the public entering a pokémon gym during the day," he smarmed. "And we heard a battle going on so we stopped by to see the show."

Alakazam narrowed its eyes at the trio, its breath slowing almost to a stop.

"Ah, very good," Sterling acknowledged, again uncharacteristically polite. "You were well within your right to do so. You are all from Cerulean City, I take it?"

"Is that relevant?"

"Not entirely, I suppose, but if you'd be so kind as to answer the question…"

"How the hell is that not relevant?!" Misty whisper-growled, her head shaking in pure exasperation.

"Nope, just passing through," the pointy one shrugged.

"Pokémon trainers?"

"Something like that, yeah."

Sterling seemed convinced, which was, to virtually everyone else in the courtroom, an amazement. "Okay, then, please tell us what you saw."

"No problem!" he exclaimed, his mouth stretching into a cocky smirk. "The battle was mighty intense, ya see, and me 'n' the boys got the best seat in the house, WAY up at the top."

"Sure wasn't that exciting the last time we was at the gym," chuckled the fat one.

"_Shut up, shut up, shut up!"_ the other two hissed at him out of the corners of their mouths.

"Those voices," Brock thought out loud from the edge of his seat. They seemed so familiar, and yet he just couldn't place them…

"Anyway," continued the pointy one, "we only caught the last bit of the battle, so it was over pretty quick. We was just about to skedaddle when the gyarados in the pool went totally crazy!"

"I see," Sterling pondered, aiming an accusative glance at Ash. "How so?"

"It was roaring and splashing and throwing its weight around something fierce! If we hadn't got out of there fast it coulda killed us!"

"How concerning," he nodded. "Did you see any effort made by the gym leader to restrain said pokémon?"

"Oh yeah, we saw Ponytail screaming her head off down there, but Gyarados didn't even notice! Honestly, it was pretty embarrassing."

"Ponytail?" Brock repeated, his narrow eyes opening a tad.

"What is it, Brock?" Tracey asked as he looked to his left.

"I'm sure I know these guys," he sighed in deep thought. "Their voices, the name they just called Misty…but our journey was so long ago. I just can't remember…"

"Gentlemen, the court would ask that you refer to the accused exclusively as Ms. Waterflower," Sterling instructed. "Unless, of course, you meant someone else?"

"Nah, we meant her," the tall one pointed over to an overwhelmed Misty. "The only other one in the gym was that guy there." The finger moved to Ash, who frowned in irritation.

"Thank you for clearing that up. So, in summary, you would say that Ms. Waterflower had little to no control over this rampaging gyarados?"

"She couldn't control it for squat!" burbled the fat one, only to be pulled down to his seat again by his companions.

"We, er, didn't stick around to see what happened next, but yeah, that gyarados was seriously out of whack," the pointy one took over. "Mew only knows what could've riled it up like that!"

"Kazam," murmured Alakazam slowly. Its bristly yellow fur stood on end, and its gangly body grew stiff. Something was not right here; he could sense it.

"But, just between you and me…" he added.

"Yes?" Sterling probed with intrigue.

The three looked at each other rather furtively. "We reckon it was all a coverup. Like an act, you know?"

"Oh?"

"Could've been a diversion for something bigger, we thought. There was water going everywhere, but Ponytail and Hat Boy-"

"Ms. Waterflower and Mr. Ketchum, if you please."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. They didn't get hit even once! And we definitely didn't see no falling diving board."

Alakazam stirred yet again, its enlarged cranium pounding from the bizarre energy it detected.

"Wait a minute…" Misty whispered to Daisy, "the diving board thing wasn't on the news, and they've only been in the room for ten minutes. How could they know about that?!"

"Quite an astute observation," Sterling remarked. "Thank you for your participation in this hearing, gentlemen. The evidence you have provided will be most helpful in our deliberations."

"What?" Ash cried out. "You mean that's it? No more questions?"

"You have already said your piece, Mr. Ketchum," he deflected. "We have heard all we need to hear today. Ladies and gentlemen, The Pokémon League Trustees Bureau shall now summarise our findings with the following recount."

And summarise they did – for a full thirty-five agonising minutes. Mr. Sterling was merciless and uncompromising with his words, making sure to resurrect every puny little microdetail of the event with as much spite as he could manage. Misty's stomach knotted itself tighter with each tick of the giant clock above her, and not even Ash's occasional smiles in her direction could rectify it this time. This seemed hopeless. Beyond hopeless. Optimism was always more Ash's thing, as she knew all too well. But even he appeared utterly lost right now. Looking around, she saw Delia weeping silently, Professor Oak's arm tightly around her, while Pikachu was fidgeting unceasingly in Alexa's lap. This was all her fault. Her friends, her family, her pokémon, her home…whatever the PokéTrust had in store for her at the end of this, no matter how horrific, the distraught and exhausted young woman was rapidly starting to believe she deserved it.

"And so, with that out of the way, it is time for us to deliver our verdict."

Not a sound reverberated through the echoey wooden courtroom. Misty was sitting bolt upright, her eyes watering and her face as hot as Mt. Chimney. Unbeknownst to her at this time, more or less everyone else was doing exactly the same.

"Well, Ms. Waterflower, we've heard quite a story today," Sterling stated, patronising and sadistic. "Your statement along with that of Mr. Ketchum painted a striking picture, if not, I fear, a particularly plausible one."

"I'm telling you, that's what happened," Misty choked, her voice hoarse from holding her hurt in.

"Silence," he snapped. "Fortunately, the testimonies from our witnesses have helped to clarify some of the greyer areas in this story." His fingers clacked down on the table. "_Unfortunately_, however, this clarification has largely served only to reinforce our original theory."

The redhead began to feel short of breath. "What, the bomb thing?!" she shouted. "A-Are you serious?!"

"Second warning." His dagger-like gaze gradually returned to his papers. "Taking into account the dubiousness of your psyduck's involvement, your inability to control your gyarados, and the suspected underhand schemes suggested by our anonymous witnesses, the decision we have come to is one that leaves us in a rather difficult position."

"No," Brock exhaled. Misty heard him, but could not move for fear she would pass out there and then.

_Don't say it_, her mind screamed at her, _please don't say it…_

"It goes without saying that you are no longer a member of the Pokémon League," Sterling declared. The casualness with which he said it caused a tsunami of shocked gasping right across the room. That, and his intonation hinted that this was only the tip of the iceberg…

"…Yet, given the sheer scale of this incident, in terms of danger, damage costs and disruption to the Indigo Conference, I regret to say the Trustees Bureau cannot simply leave it there."

Alakazam, its eyes now glowing an intimidating indigo shade, suddenly began to rise up off the ground, hovering an inch or two in the air with his spoons crossed.

"Misty Waterflower," Sterling said as he and the entire PokéTrust stood up, "it is the ruling of this court that you, along with Mr. Ash Ketchum and your three sisters, Daisy, Violet and Lily Waterflower, be placed under arrest for-"

A violent shudder shook the room, sending dust and plaster spilling down from the ceiling. Various creaks and groans could be heard from various directions, but there was no sign of what was causing them. Just when everything seemed normal again for a second, there came a loud noise of rushing water, like a waterfall close by but completely out of sight. Confusion was rife around the courtroom until mere moments later…when everything only got weirder.

"What theaarggluubbbllluuuggggphhh…!"

The three mystery men, their concealed heads pointed to the sky, were suddenly swept off their seats and up into the air by a gigantic torrent of water. It poured down from an invisible opening about a metre wide and swished unnaturally round into a spherical shape, churning its gurgling, floundering captives in endless circles.

"What in the sands of Cinnabar is going on here?!" Sterling bellowed.

"Misty, what's happening?!" Ash yelled over.

"I d-don't know!" she replied, unable to look away. After only a few seconds, the water sphere dropped to the floor, bursting in all directions and loosing the three drenched – and now uncovered – witnesses.

"YOU!" Misty screamed.

"I knew it!" Brock cried out from the back of the room.

The sodden men reached for their hats and sunglasses, grimacing when they noticed them in a pool of water halfway across the room. In the staff gallery, Agent Joy gasped and immediately rose to her feet.

"Hold everything!" she proclaimed. "Those three men are the so-called Invincible Pokémon Brothers I apprehended seven years ago! Their attack on Misty and her gyarados earned them a lifelong ban on pokémon-related activities; by being present at the Cerulean gym, they are in breach of this prohibition!"

"Is this true?" Sterling inquired.

"They tried to attack Gyarados and almost killed me in the process!" Misty cried. "And the time before that, they were hired by Team Rocket to steal our pokémon! I knew there had to be a reason for Gyarados acting like that – he was just protecting me from them!"

Though the now grounded Alakazam's eyes had returned to normal, they were fixed intently on the unmasked brothers.

"Er, wait up, now," the spiky-haired brother drivelled. "This is a-all just a big misunderstanding…"

"To accuse Misty of planting a bomb in her own gym is simply outrageous!" Joy asserted. "These are the culprits right here – they set this whole thing in motion!"

All eyes turned to the people in question, whose tangible overconfidence had all but vanished.

"Now hold on, th-there's no way to…I mean you c-can't prove that we…'cause we weren't even…uhh…NOW, BOYS!"

With surprising agility, the Invincible Pokémon Brothers vaulted up onto the table, bashing people and objects out of their way in their mad rush for the side door.

"Alakazam, stop them!" Sterling ordered.

"Alaaa…kazam!"

The Psi Pokémon held up its spoons, which glowed an otherworldly violet colour. The same colour outlined the three brothers, who were instantly stopped in their tracks, unable to move a muscle.

"As convincing as your argument was," Sterling said calmly, "innocent people do not attempt to flee when confronted. Do you have anything to say?"

The tall brother, his face partially squashed against the force field he was trapped in, looked around and gave a disgruntled sigh.

"Alright, fine! We was at the gym that day because we wanted to finally teach Ponytail a lesson for humiliating us all those years ago! We'd been planning our revenge for ages!"

"You what?!" the equally furious and bewildered Ash jumped in.

"You heard me, dumbass! It's a pity you didn't get to see our brilliant scheme – but hey, guess Gyarados had other plans, and I gotta say, the result was better than anything we coulda come up with, right, boys?"

"Sure was," the fat brother agreed.

"You _monsters_," Misty snarled. "My psyduck is in a coma all because of you!"

"Big deal!" laughed the spiky-haired brother.

"Get them out of here," Sterling demanded. The two Officer Jennies, along with Alakazam, proceeded to escort the grumbling brothers swiftly and efficiently out of the courtroom.

Misty was almost afraid to ask, but in the silence and discomfort this sudden event had created, she could wait no longer.

"So, um, what now?"

Sterling, now standing in the middle of the room, turned to face the young girl – as did everyone else. "I…" he faltered for the first time in the day. "In light of these unique circumstances, and considering the events that have just transpired…" he straightened his crooked spectacles, "the Pokémon League Trustees Bureau has decided to…drop all charges concerning you, your sisters and Mr. Ketchum here."

"I, er, you, you're…what?"

Aside from a few gasps, the room was deathly silent once again. Mr. Sterling retook his position at the table, and without making eye contact with anything but the opposite wall, plainly uttered the words Misty had longed to hear ever since she stepped into this dreaded building.

"This hearing is now concluded. Court adjourned."


	6. V: To Defeat the Elite

CHAPTER 5: To Defeat the Elite

"Whoa…"

Ash's awestruck utterance was soon reiterated among the entirety of the group – none more so than Misty.

"You can't be serious," she gasped as Lance beckoned them inside.

"Of course I am, Misty," he stated. "Hardly anyone ever uses this suite anyway. You and your sisters are welcome to stay here as long as you like."

"Oh my god!" Lily squealed. "This place is, like, awesome!"

"You're our hero, Mr. Lance, sir," Violet purred in a deliberately syrupy tone. "How can we, like, ever repay you?"

Lance awkwardly adjusted the fastenings of his cape when Violet sidled up to him with a sultry look in her eyes. "That's, ahem, really not necessary, Violet," he said with a little shiver. "Think nothing of it. It's the least I can do."

"But…why?" Misty asked, still very confused.

"The Pokémon League looks out for its gym leaders," he replied. "You may be out of work at this time, but we can't in good conscience leave you without a home. And, also, I hoped you might consider this an official apology on behalf of all of us. For what it's worth, the Elite Four were rooting for you all along."

Misty was too flustered to speak, which provided a window for the others to offload their questions.

"What will happen to those Invincible Pokémon Brothers?" asked Tracey.

"Oh, those three villains will be dealt with accordingly. Needless to say, I think we've all seen the last of them."

"So, Misty and Ash are definitely in the clear now?" Brock inquired.

"Absolutely," Lance said. "I'll admit that I was concerned by how the hearing was going, but once Agent Joy stepped in to clear everything up, there seemed little doubt anymore as to who the real perpetrators were." He snorted in amusement. "Quite honestly, I've never once seen Sterling accept being wrong until today. We've all had to face his wrath at some point or another; the look on his face was really rather…satisfying."

The group diffused further into the gigantic penthouse apartment, at which point the gravity of Lance's act of generosity really began to show. The room in which they stood was like a huge open-plan lounge, one that took up nearly the whole top floor of the League-owned challengers' condominiums. Its walls were a gorgeous shining ochre with sculpted flame-shaped lamps mounted along them, and the sea-green floor subtly inclined upwards into the centre with wide, shallow steps, where a burgundy sofa suite arranged like a pokéball rested. A colossal TV was anchored to the right-hand wall with a number of squashy-looking armchairs around it, along with a state-of-the-art computer and videophone combo on a desk underneath. Most striking, however, was the wall-length window directly in front of them, overlooking the entire trainer's village and a considerable portion of Southern Kanto. Misty, for one, was very grateful that the wretched Indigo Courthouse was on the other side of the building and thus completely out of sight.

"I don't know what to say," she murmured while staring out of the window. Lance walked up beside her.

"Like I said, think nothing of it. You've been through hell over the last week. It's about time something went right for you."

The remark struck a chord deep within Misty's chest, and though her expected reaction was to burst into tears, she began to feel a small smile, her first in many days, stretching its way onto her face.

"Hey, check this out!" Ash cried from within the circle of sofas. "This table's got a built-in pokédex! Show 'em, Pikachu!"

He pressed a green button on the touchscreen surface, and a light shot towards Pikachu on the adjacent sofa.

"_Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon,"_ it said in a voice identical to that of Ash's first pokédex. _"It can generate electric attacks from the electric pouches located in both of its cheeks."_

"Pikaaa," Pikachu giggled sheepishly.

"That's so cool! Tray Tray, can I give one of your pokémon a try with it?" Daisy gushed.

"Sure," he laughed, releasing his faithful Marill.

Lance, Misty and the rest of the group turned back inwards, leaving the playful pokémon party to their own devices.

"As it happens, Misty," Lance started, "the timing of your gym's destruction is quite fortuitous."

A collection of incensed looks forced the League champion to falter. "Um, forgive me, that was an abysmal choice of words. What I meant to say is that the Pokémon League has been planning a complete transformation of its gym facilities for quite some time."

"It has?" she said.

"Ah, so that's why the Pewter City gym was remodelled last year!" Brock jumped in. "So, you're doing that to all of them?"

"In due course, yes," Lance confirmed. "Construction on the new Cerulean City gym wasn't scheduled to begin for another two years – but after what's happened, it only makes sense to push the project forward to now."

"A new gym?" said Delia. "Oh, Misty, that's such wonderful news!"

"I agree," seconded Professor Oak. "It should be quite the spectacle once it's finished."

"Wow…" Misty exhaled. In the tumult of the court case and Psyduck's worrying condition, this was something she had never even thought about.

"Don't stress yourself about it now," Lance assured her. "We're still waiting for the blueprints before any building work can commence. I'll get the architect to send them over so you and your sisters can take a look."

After making sure everyone was settled, the esteemed former Elite Four member then turned towards the door to take his leave.

"Oh!" he cried out. "I'm terribly sorry, I almost forgot. Nurse Joy told me to tell you that Psyduck will be arriving at Indigo Labs in one hour, as well as the specialist physician from Saffron City."

"Really?" Misty exclaimed. "Today? I thought she said he was coming tomorrow!"

"Apparently, she left the hearing early because she got word that he'd had a 'psychic seizure' of some sort, and insisted he be brought up to Indigo Plateau right away."

Misty's eyes grew wide. There was so much going on in that courtroom, she had no idea that Nurse Joy hadn't been there the whole time.

"Oh my god. Psyduck," she whimpered. "I need to see him."

"Of course," Lance nodded. "I'll let them know you're coming."

With that, he gently closed the door behind him, leaving the penthouse suite's new inhabitants alone to assimilate.

"Well, what now?" Ash asked to pierce the silence.

To his surprise, Misty was the one to answer. "Psyduck needs me," she said, "but I trust Nurse Joy, so I have faith that this specialist will be able to help him. And the gym's getting rebuilt, so…" she turned to him and smiled, "I think everything's going to be alright."

"Well, in THAT case…!"

Brock's manic sprint across the room almost sent half of its occupants flying.

"Oh, Alexa, my dear," he crooned, taking her hands in his. "I've admired you from afar, and though we meet in such grave circumstances, it'd be a _far_ graver mistake for us to spend another second apart!"

Alexa just stood there, dumbstruck, until Misty inevitably came to the rescue.

"I knew you'd been acting oddly well-behaved since you came back from Johto!" she huffed as she dragged him away by the ear.

"Is he always like that?" Alexa asked with an awkward laugh.

Misty rolled her eyes. "Oh, you have no idea."

Once everything had calmed down again, the Kalos native decided to voice an interesting thought that suddenly occurred to her.

"Hey, Misty, I wonder if I could ask you something?"

Misty cocked her head in curiosity, but smiled her consent at the twenty-nine-year-old.

"Everything that's happened – the accident at the gym, Psyduck's psychic powers, being wrongly accused in court – I think people would really like to read about this! And right now, there are way more people in town because of the Indigo League. My contact at the Goldenrod City radio tower could even have it in circulation in twenty-four hours! What do you say?"

The redhead's brow crinkled. "You want to write about me? And Psyduck?" She looked down in thought. "I don't know…"

"I understand," Alexa said. "It's natural to want to keep something like this to yourself. But after hearing the way the PokéTrust perverted the facts, how they made you out to be some kind of cold-hearted crook, how little they cared about what happened to Psyduck – don't you think people ought to know the truth? Nobody knows the real story yet, Misty. It'd mean so much more if they heard it from the mouth of the Cerulean gym leader herself."

It should have taken a while for Misty to consider this rather sudden offer. But even she couldn't deny that the reporter's reasoning was more than convincing. Her gym and reputation aside, Psyduck's condition was deeply distressing, and the fact that barely anyone knew, much less cared, was strangely heartbreaking. For the sake of her dim-witted, slow, annoying and completely lovable duck pokémon, they needed to know.

"Okay," she eventually declared. "I'll do it."

"Great!" Alexa beamed. "If I can sit with you for a few minutes later on, I'll have everything I need. Thank you for this, Misty. It's about time people saw what a devoted gym leader you are."

She ambled away, leaving the gymless gym leader to her thoughts by the grand penthouse window. While everyone else was busy poking excitedly around the Waterflowers' temporary new home, Misty felt it far more satisfying to simply stand there and take in the view. There'd be plenty of time to get acquainted with the place later, anyway. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy this relative tranquillity while it lasted.

"I'm going to go for a walk," she said aloud, hoping at least one of them would hear her, "since there's time to kill before Psyduck gets here and all."

Ash looked up from the pokédex table. "Good idea, Mist," he smiled. "Mind if I join you?"

She matched his smile with her own. "Sure."

As Alexa had pointed out, the Indigo Plateau Trainers' Village was bustling with life. With only three weeks until the Indigo League conference, it was no wonder that trainers from all over had already flocked to the place to await the oldest and most celebrated tournament of the Pokémon League. Ash and Misty, comfortable again in their casual summer wear, found a quiet grassy lane off to the side to stroll down, from which they could see all the hurried goings-on in the main plaza.

"Wait, so Lance said you're getting a whole new gym?" Ash said in astonishment.

"Yeah," she nodded. "It's part of a big remodelling plan, apparently."

"Hey, that means they'll be able to do something about your tiny room!" He cringed internally. "Uhh, I mean, your room…hehe."

Misty glared mockingly at him. "And what exactly was wrong with the size of my room, Ash Ketchum?"

"Er, nothing, nothing! It was very…tidy, and, um, cosy? Petite, even!" His idiotic grin only dug him in deeper.

"So dumb," Misty exhaled with a stiff head shake, then carried on walking. Ash caught up with her seconds later, whereupon he decided to change the subject.

"I know none of us have really talked about this yet," he started, "but what do you think actually happened in the courthouse just now?"

She cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the last few minutes of the hearing were pretty darn crazy, right? Do you think it was Alakazam who made all that water fall from the sky?"

"I don't know," Misty remarked dully.

"I coulda sworn I saw him floating at one point. And there was that freaky purple colour around him. But even then, have you ever seen an alakazam do something like that? It's really weird…"

"Ash, can we please not talk about the court?" she interrupted. "It's over now. I'd rather not think about it any more than I already have."

He didn't need her to elaborate, having experienced first-hand the painful and confusing events of Misty's hearing. Instead, Ash turned his attention to the expansive circular area in which they were now standing. It was the nexus of the trainers' village, serving as a central hub for pokémon trainers to meet, battle, shop for souvenirs and enjoy the finest of Kantonian cuisine. In the middle of the circle was a grand fountain, multi-tiered with water jets spurting elegantly in an impressive floral pattern. He could take or leave most of this, though. What really captured his attention were the swarms of people everywhere, playing with their pokémon or showing off their newly acquired Kanto gym badges.

"Takes you back, doesn't it?" he commented, fondly taking in the sight. Misty glanced at him and giggled softly at the smile on his face.

"Don't tell me you of all people are getting nostalgic," she teased. "Isn't always looking ahead the whole point of travelling?"

"Well yeah, but…" he panned across his surroundings with an arm gesture, "look at this place! This was where I took part in my first ever proper battle tournament. I was so excited, and you and Brock were right there with me the whole time. It was an awesome feeling."

Misty nodded. "Doesn't feel like eleven years ago, I'll admit. Those were the days, huh?"

_You can say that again, _Ash mused. Representing his tiny rural hometown in the challenge of a lifetime, a stepping stone to greatness for his ten-year-old self with his best friends by his side…there truly was nothing greater. To stand by while everyone prepared for something that had once brought him such exhilaration, such childlike rapture, felt both satisfying and surreal. Half of him found comfort in the fun and familiarity of the scene – but the other half, the half that burned with a passion to get stuck in, called to him like an old friend deep within, pleading with him to cross that final yawning gap and just go for it. And despite not usually being one for nostalgia, like Misty had said, he absolutely was one for impulsiveness, evidenced by the very next thought that popped into his head.

"Misty," he said, a trembling grin on his face. "I'm going to do it."

"Do what?" she asked as they stopped suddenly.

He turned to her, beaming. "I'm going to enter the Indigo League."

* * *

"Hello?"

It was just gone 2:30, the agreed time that Misty would head over to Indigo Labs. The building was by the river, only a moderate walk from where she was staying, and surprisingly small from the outside. She presumed that most of the facility was underground, which was quickly confirmed to her when a few metres beyond the thick steel door gave way to a steep decline of steps. Curiously, there was no-one to greet her, and even odder still, very few of the lights in the hallways seemed to be on. It was downright creepy, and she began to regret letting Ash skip off to sign up for the Indigo League. If the circumstances of her being here weren't so terribly important, the young girl would most likely have run a mile.

"H-Hello? Is anyone here?" she tried again. Once at the bottom of the stairs, she fumbled her way to a door at the end of the corridor, opening it to reveal yet another staircase, shorter but far steeper than the last.

_This is sure gonna be a fun trip back up,_ she groaned internally. Thankfully, a light shone through the door that she eventually came to, giving her some hope that she was actually in the right place after all.

_Tap, tap, tap,_ went her fingernails on the cold metal. A few seconds later, she tried a little harder. Then she moved to hammering the buzzer on the adjacent wall. All three attempts yielded nothing, making Misty understandably embarrassed to find that the door simply swung open with a light turn of the knob.

"If anyone can hear me, I'm the Cerulean City gym leader," she called out. "I was told my psyduck would be here…"

The room was very long and narrow, almost like a hallway until a rectangular alcove at the far-left end made it more like an L-shape. A metallic grey coated the upper walls, separated from the white lower half by head-high shelving and monstrous lab equipment. One particularly intriguing piece sat to her immediate left: a huge, wheeled console not unlike a rudimentary computer, with thick tubing leading up to an enormous glass capsule. Many other machines looked just as unusual, but a sudden crash stopped her from inspecting them further.

"Huh?!" she jumped, rushing towards the source of the noise. The space at the back resembled a garage of sorts, and Misty could tell instantly that the crashing had come from underneath the long workbench that stood against the wall. As she bent over, she made out a round, shadowy shape in the darkness, one that shrieked in alarm the instant she reached out to prod it.

"YAAAAAAAAAH!"

The figure sprung out from under the table, and, to Misty's relief, was quite human indeed.

"O-Ohh, um," he chuckled sheepishly. "Forgive me, Miss, I thought you were…someone else."

"That's okay," she shrugged. "But what were you doing under the table?"

"I was trying to find an outlet for this useless thing," he signalled towards a worn-out belt sander on the bench. "They told me this place would be state-of-the-art, but from what I've seen, it's kind of a fixer-upper."

The panning of his hand around him drew Misty's attention to a long desk in the middle of the room, stretching from the back wall almost right across to the front door.

"I've definitely never seen a lab like this before," she remarked. "It looks more like a classroom to me."

"Ah, well spotted! I thought that, too. Perhaps this laboratory was a school once upon a time. Whatever happened to it over the ages, I wonder…"

Misty smiled in politeness, but then decided to cut straight to the point. "Hey, listen, I don't suppose you've seen a psyduck around here, have you?" she asked. "Or an expert on psychic pokémon?"

The man bashfully straightened the collar of his lab coat. "Well, I don't know about 'expert'," he grinned, "but I do know a thing or two about psychic pokémon."

Her mouth fell open. "Wait…it's you! You're the specialist?"

"Not what you expected, am I?"

"I…don't know what I expected," Misty mumbled. In truth, she'd imagined something _far_ more eccentric. The middle-aged man before her was slight, in both stature and demeanour, with an air about him that was somehow warm and inviting. Definitely not what one would expect of someone who dabbled in the unseen.

"It's alright, I get that all the time," he laughed. "My name is Professor Cairn. And you must be Ms. Waterflower!"

"Yes. I'm…" she paused to shake his outstretched hand, "Misty."

"It's a true pleasure, Misty," Professor Cairn smiled. "I've heard all about you from Lance and Nurse Joy."

"You have?"

"Oh, yes! I'm so sorry about everything that's happened to you and your family lately. However, to answer your question, I happen to know that Psyduck should be arriving any minute now."

Misty's face lit up just as a clatter and a ding rang out from the lift outside.

"Why, speak of the devil, that could be him now!" Cairn cried. "Let's go take a look, shall we?"

It certainly was him, and though it had only been a day, it felt much longer than that since Misty had last seen him. Psyduck was sleeping peacefully upon his stretcher, his arms tucked up to his chest and his beak gently shut. Were it not for his bandages, it would almost seem as though nothing was wrong with him. Perhaps that was what worried his trainer the most.

"Lance mentioned he'd had a kind of seizure earlier," she said as they wheeled him into the room. "Do you know anything about it, Professor?"

"I'm afraid I don't," he frowned. "I was rather hoping you would know. All Nurse Joy told me was that it happened just over an hour ago, when his vitals showed a massive spike in psychic energy."

Misty sighed, saying nothing until a sudden thought hit her.

"Wait," she gasped. "That would've been when I was in court, right about when the water started coming down! But we all thought it was just Alakazam calling those brothers out on their lies…could Psyduck have…?"

Cairn looked on in curiosity as the redhead wrestled with these thoughts for some time.

"I think you'd better tell me everything from the top," he suggested. "But first, we should see to making Psyduck comfortable."

With a beckoning hand, the docile man led Misty and the stretcher over to the same glass chamber that she had been inspecting earlier.

"This is a machine of my own design," he said. "I had it flown in from Saffron City as soon as I heard I was to be coming here. Now, let me just remove these bandages…"

Carefully, he peeled off each of Psyduck's many wrappings one by one. Misty was amazed to see how well most of his wounds had healed, particularly the concussion-inducing gash on his head.

"Is this safe?" Misty asked in concern.

"Oh, perfectly," Cairn answered. "The serum in the capsule is a formula I created back in college, specifically for treating psychic pokémon. I've tweaked it for Psyduck's unique needs, so, physically speaking, he should be right as rain after a day or two of total saturation!"

"Total saturation?" she repeated. The jargon he was throwing out sure was scary, but for now, at least, Misty thought it best to have faith and refrain from interrupting.

"Up we go," the professor said with a struggle, holding on to Psyduck's arms. Misty grabbed his legs, and the two manoeuvred him slowly over to the chamber. Once inside, Cairn strapped the unconscious duck into the harness, then sealed the capsule shut and pressed a button on the console beneath. In less than a minute, Psyduck was completely submerged in the translucent green liquid that gushed from the tubing around him.

"Psyduck…" Misty murmured. The kindly professor beside her noticed her apprehension and smiled.

"Don't worry, Misty," he said. "I realise I'll be learning at the same rate as you during this treatment, but I'm fully dedicated to helping you and Psyduck, and I promise you that as soon as his wounds have healed, we'll get to the bottom of this, together."

His words brought a feeling of reassurance upon the fretting woman straight away. Though she had only just met him, she felt that Professor Cairn's promise was nothing but sincere, and sensed in her gut that she truly could trust him with her poor ailing Psyduck.

"And this probably all seems quite elaborate, but it's never failed me once, even during my lecturing days," Cairn added, patting the machine.

"You were a lecturer?" Misty asked. He nodded proudly.

"I was, many years ago. A number of my students went on to pursue careers in psychic studies, which I was rather flattered by. Why, one even became the Saffron City gym leader!"

Misty's eyebrows raised. "You taught Sabrina?"

Again, Cairn gave a humble nod. "Her father and I have been friends since high school. She showed such potential for greatness at such a young age that I insisted she enrol in my course when she turned ten. Her father was sceptical, and after what happened to her mother in later years I can't say I blame him, but…"

He paused, a sign Misty interpreted as reliving an intense memory. "I do feel guilty about that," he admitted. "Psychic power is often extremely difficult to wield." Looking around, he then coughed in embarrassment. "Oh, um, sorry, I think I went off on a tangent there. What was I saying?"

"You were talking about Sabrina," Misty prompted.

"Ah, of course. Well, it was actually Sabrina who suggested me to Nurse Joy for this job."

"It was?"

"Yes. She saw what happened to your gym on the news and contacted the lab the next day to arrange for Psyduck to be moved here. I believe she was at your hearing just now, yes?"

"Yeah," Misty mumbled, shocked by her distant colleague's generosity. "Wow, I had no idea…"

"Psychics are a hard people to read, but they're certainly not above great acts of random kindness," Cairn commented. "I've not a clairvoyant bone in my body, alas, but I've always been fascinated by the sheer power hidden within the mind. Humans and pokémon are not so different in that regard, wouldn't you say?"

His enthusiasm for his profession was clear as day, and to know that he and Misty had common ground in their friendship with Sabrina was doubly pleasing. She considered telling him that she, Ash and Brock were the ones to release Sabrina's mother from her curse as a living doll (all while falling victim to it herself in the process) and save the Saffron gym leader from her own uncontrollable power. But perhaps that was a discussion for a later date. In any case, the door to the lab flew open before she could utter another syllable.

"Ah, Misty, there you are."

"Brock?" she cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Friend of yours?" Cairn inquired.

It was then that Misty noticed said friend's bedraggled appearance. Though still wearing his suit from court, the epaulets were crinkled and his tie sat loose around his neck. His eyes were also peculiarly puffy, as if he'd been rubbing them vigorously.

"What's wrong?" she said in alarm.

"I…just got off the phone to the Violet City Pokémon Centre," he stated. "The stantler I've been looking after, it…passed away this morning."

She clasped a hand over her mouth. "Oh no," she whimpered. "Brock, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks," he smiled weakly. "Nurse Joy told me it wouldn't have made any difference if I'd been there, but, well, I still feel like I could have done more to help the poor guy."

"There's nothing more you could have done, Brock," she told him. "Nurse Joy believes you did your best, and I do, too." She turned to her right. "This is Professor Cairn. He's going to help me find out what's wrong with Psyduck. Professor Cairn, this is my friend, Brock."

"Pleased to meet you," Cairn greeted, shaking the man's hand. "You are a pokémon doctor, then?"

"Well, in-training," Brock chuckled.

"So, what's going to happen with your internship now?" Misty asked.

Brock stood up straight. "That's actually the reason I came to find you, Misty. Now that my work in Violet City is effectively over, I suggested to Nurse Joy that I use the rest of my time here in Indigo Plateau, and she agreed. This way, I can still complete my contract while staying close to you and Ash."

"Really?" Misty inhaled. "You'd do that for us?"

"I already have. It's never fun to have to leave you guys, even if none of us are travelling right now. Plus, I figure having an extra pokémon doctor around at a time like this couldn't hurt, right?"

This gave Professor Cairn an idea. "Say, Brock, have you actually confirmed your new position at the Indigo Plateau pokémon centre yet?"

He shook his head. "Erm, not yet, no. I was going to head over there as soon as I let Misty know about my plans."

"Well, I just thought, given your closeness to Misty and your knowledge of pokémon healthcare," he pushed his round spectacles up his nose, "how would you feel about helping me out around the lab?"

Brock was stunned. "You mean it? Be your assistant?"

"Why not? I could use an extra pair of hands around here. As you can see, the place isn't exactly teeming with life. And, someone who is already familiar with Psyduck would be very useful to have around. What do you say?"

It took barely a second for the young man to make up his mind. "I'll do it!" he beamed. "Thanks a million for this, Professor, you won't regret it. And you too, Misty!"

"Well, I didn't really do anything," she giggled, nonetheless happy to see him so excited.

"I'm glad that's settled," Cairn smiled. "I feel this could be the start of a wonderful working relationship." He turned serious. "Now, Misty, why don't you tell me everything about what happened at the Cerulean gym…"

* * *

Giovanni stood impatiently in the hallway of the Team Rocket headquarters. It was bad enough that those bumbling idiots had waltzed into his office and covered his desk with dirt, but then to have to evacuate the room for fear that this dirt was _radioactive_…now that was when his already threadbare patience had reached its end.

"What have you found, Professor Sebastian?" he grumbled into a wall-mounted intercom.

"Sadly very little, sir," a nasal drone replied through the speaker. "Preliminary tests have so far been inconclusive, I regret to inform."

"Do you have _any_ information yet?" Giovanni persisted.

The intercom crackled during the brief pause that followed. "Well, I can confirm that the substance is not radioactive, so there will be no need for yourself, Ms. Matori and your personal guard to undergo sterilisation after all."

The Team Rocket boss looked over at the hazmat-clad workers probing around in his office – for naught, as it just turned out. Such a nuisance.

"I see," he sighed. "That will save any more of my time being wasted, at least."

"Sir, I thought you might be interested to know that I've been running a local scan for energy signatures similar to the one my aides recorded in your office," Sebastian explained. "While I am yet to identify the origin of this compound, it just so happens that an identical signal was picked up from Indigo Plateau at the exact same moment."

"Do you mean to tell me that another energy spike occurred in perfect synchronicity with what happened in my office?" Giovanni questioned.

"I do, sir."

"Curious," he pondered. "Perhaps there is more to this than I thought. Whereabouts in Indigo Plateau did you detect the signal?"

"In the old Indigo Courthouse," Sebastian answered. "The main courtroom, I believe."

"The Indigo Courthouse? How unexpected. We must investigate the source of this signal."

"I anticipated you would say that, sir. Might I suggest my own operatives, Atilla and Hun, for this assignment?"

Giovanni stroked his chin. "Interesting idea, Professor. Where are they now?"

"In the Sinnoh region, scouting out locations for a potential base of operations. Their results have been promising, but I can call them back at any time."

"No. The construction of a Sinnoh base is integral to Team Rocket's expansion plan and should not be delayed," he shot down. "Leave Atilla and Hun where they are for the time being. I will send my A-squad to undertake this mission."

"Very good, sir," Professor Sebastian acknowledged. A moment later, the comm line rang off.

"Matori," Giovanni turned to his disgruntled secretary, "inform my agents of their upcoming task."

"Right away, sir," Matori complied.

"And, while you're at it," the boss added, "have Jessie, James and Meowth report to the lab for assignment of temporary pokémon. As idiotic as they are, they were the first to bring this bizarre turn of events to my attention." He began to walk stoically away. "They might as well make themselves useful."

* * *

"You want to enter the Indigo League?" Lance asked in slight shock.

"You bet I do!" Ash cried, bristling with energy. "It's not too late, right?"

"Oh no, it's not too late," he clarified, "just a little…unorthodox to have an entry less than three weeks before the tournament. I take it you have your eight badges then?"

The young man's face fell. "Uhhh…well, I've got eight from the last time I entered. Do they count?"

Lance gave him a sympathetic smile that very much suggested the contrary. "They have to be up to date, Ash," he said. "Many of Kanto's gym leaders have changed since you last competed, anyway."

"Oh," Ash mumbled. "Well, um, how about that exam thing? The one you can take to qualify without needing gym badges?"

"The Pokémon League Admissions Exam? I'm afraid we stopped holding that at the beginning of this month."

"Aww, man," he groaned. "I guess we were too late, Pikachu."

"Chuuu," the droopy-eared pokémon sighed.

"Now, hold on a minute, Ash," Lance interjected. "I said it's unorthodox for you to be entering this late, but it's not impossible. There is one last way you can participate in the Indigo League."

"There is?" Ash cried.

The distinguished pokémon master beckoned Ash into his office, where he loaded up a series of files and images on his desktop computer.

"We always try and encourage trainers to go on a journey and collect their eight gym badges first-hand," he explained, "so alternative methods deliberately aren't publicised as much. But if an entrant has over five years' experience and a Top 8 ranking or above in at least one other League tournament, then he or she is eligible for a more advanced challenge."

"Wow…" Ash murmured as Lance pulled up a collection of images, all of a cavernous underground battle arena.

"It's called the Elite Qualifier," he said with pride. "If a trainer can triumph over two Elite Four members of their choosing in a four-on-four double battle, then they are automatically added to the Indigo Conference challengers' roster."

Ash leant dizzily against the wall, his hand reaching up to the back of his head.

"Battle two Elite Four members at once?" he said to himself. What was initially disbelief turned swiftly to elation. "That sounds awesome! Whaddaya say, Pikachu?"

"Pika-chu!" he cheered with a little thumbs-up.

"Like the admissions exam, we don't usually run this challenge so close to the Indigo League," Lance pointed out, "but, as luck would have it, most of the Elite Four members were in town for Misty's hearing this morning. It shouldn't be hard to persuade them to stick around until tomorrow."

"Er, yeah, that was pretty lucky, I guess," Ash chuckled.

"And, after how you've helped me over the years, particularly at the Lake of Rage, I'm sure I can pull some strings to make this qualifier a memorable one for you."

The young pokémon trainer was buzzing with excitement. "You mean it? Oh man, this is gonna be so cool!"

Lance laughed heartily. "It's my pleasure, Ash. I'll email you the list, as well as the guidelines for choosing your pokémon. Have your choices back to me by tonight, okay?"

"You can count on it! C'mon, Pikachu, we've gotta get ready!"

"Pika!"

Later, just as the scorching afternoon sun began to set, Misty stepped out of the lift and unlocked the door to her family's spacious new apartment.

"Hey, Mist," Ash called over from the sofa. "Where've you been?"

"You know where I've been, Ash," she tutted.

"Well, yeah, but that was hours ago! You've been there this whole time?"

"I had to make sure Psyduck was okay, didn't I?" she reasoned. "Also, the specialist, Professor Cairn, is a really nice guy. We ended up chatting for ages. D'you know he even asked Brock to be his assistant?"

"No way! Really?"

"Yeah, isn't it great? I'll take you to meet him tomorrow. He really seems devoted to helping Psyduck."

"That's great, Misty," Ash smiled. "Oh, and Tracey told me to tell you everyone's gone out for dinner at some buffet place. Said he'd save us seats if we wanted to join them, though."

She nodded. "That'd be nice. So, did you sign up for the Indigo League?"

Her question made Ash leap up from the sofa and drag her over to the computer in the corner.

"Hey, wait till you see this!" he gushed. A few mouse clicks later, and the files emailed to him by Lance appeared on the screen.

"The Elite Qualifier?" Misty recognised. "I've heard of that before. This is how you're entering the tournament?"

"Lance said it was the only way I could without badges," he said, "but I wouldn't have it any other way! Isn't this amazing?"

"Have you decided which members to challenge?" she prompted.

Ash scratched his head. "Actually, I stayed behind to wait for you when everyone went out because I hoped you'd help me choose."

"Really?" she asked, genuinely surprised (and rather flattered).

"Mhm," he smiled. "Look, they're all here. I just need to select the two I want to battle."

He brought up a document showing interactive images of each of the Elite Four members. There were actually five, presumably given that the Kanto and Johto regions shared many members between them. Misty gasped as soon as she laid eyes on the first photograph.

"Oh my god, Ash, you've gotta pick Prima, pleeeeeeeeeease!" she squealed. "She's so amazing, and her water pokémon are just the cuuuuuutest!"

Ash rolled his finger around in his now ringing ear. "Jeez, Mist, I'm only here! But…I guess it would be cool to have a rematch against Prima. And I'm gonna win this time! Okay, then, Prima it is!"

The pointer made a gentle click upon the icon, and the image turned green to show it had been selected.

"Alright, then, who else?" he pondered. "There's a couple of ones I don't recognise here…"

"Look, there's Koga!" Misty observed. "I forgot he became an Elite Four member after his daughter Janine took over the Fuchsia City gym."

"Wow, that's cool," Ash said in awe. "Hey, this guy looks kinda weird."

"That's Will. His speciality is psychic pokémon."

"What's with the mask?"

"No idea. I've spoken to him at League meetings before, he's a pretty eccentric guy."

Ash scrolled right to the end, somewhat disappointed that Lance himself wasn't on the list.

"Bummer," he sighed. He then turned his attention to the last listed Elite Four member.

"Karen, huh?" he murmured. "I don't know her, either."

"Oh, she's lovely," Misty smiled. "She's a dark-type trainer. Her umbreon is such a cutie."

"A dark-type trainer!" Ash repeated, immediately intrigued. "You know, I've never gone up against someone who specialises in dark-types before. That sounds like fun!"

His cursor glided over her picture. "What do you think, Misty?"

"Good choice," she nodded. "I say go for it!"

"Alright then…" With another click, the image changed colour. "That's that taken care of!"

"Just your pokémon to pick now, huh?" Misty guessed.

"Well, I already know my first choice, right, buddy?" Ash laughed.

"Piii," Pikachu trilled affectionately.

"Only five more to go," Misty giggled.

"This'll be a cinch," Ash shrugged. "I'll pick Oshawott, Scraggy, Snivy-"

The boy's confused friend stopped him in his tracks with a look of utter incredulity.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm picking my pokémon, what do you think I'm doing?" he rebutted.

"But they're all your Unova pokémon."

"So?"

"So, what about your older pokémon that you've spent more time with?"

"Misty, these are the pokémon who accompanied me all through Unova. I like to start afresh each time I go to a new region, and these guys really proved themselves while I was there."

She measured her next words carefully. "Ash, I don't mean to take away from your new pokémon, but don't you think starting from scratch all the time is why you've never won an official tournament?"

Ash froze. As harsh as that sounded, it was something he'd actually never considered before. Making new friends came before winning, naturally, but simultaneously, it didn't feel good to be pipped at the post every single time by someone with much stronger, battle-hardened pokémon. Leave it to Misty to deliver a painful truth.

"Um…" he coasted, "you, er…wow…"

Misty placed her hand upon Ash's, an act that made them both shiver. "I'm sorry, I know that was mean," she said. "But I also know how crushed you are when you lose a competition, and I don't want you to have to go through that again. There's no shame in giving your new pokémon a little rest, you know. And your more experienced pokémon will be excited to get to reunite with you, right?"

It was a tough call to make, but deep down, he knew there was wisdom to her words. He was tired of losing. By going back to his roots, the bonds he'd nurtured since day one of his journey, this time he knew he'd come out on top.

"Yeah," he whispered. "You could be right. Thanks, Misty." He turned back to the screen. "So, um…Charizard?"

"Now that's more like it," Misty winked. "Who else?"

* * *

Night fell late in mid-August Kanto. It took until around 10:30pm before the coast was deemed to be clear, and that was when they made their premeditated stealth run towards the courthouse.

"Come on, Blotch!" Cassidy hissed through the bushes.

"It's Butch!" her partner's coarse voice rasped back at her. "How the heck don't you of all people know my name yet?!"

"Oh, stop your whining," she exhaled. "Look, there's a window up there. Give me a boost and I'll pick the lock."

The black-garbed man hoisted his teammate up to the ledge, watching as she poked and prodded the latch of the window with a couple of metal rods. In just seconds, the lock clicked open, and Cassidy slid the window quietly upwards, dropping down into the darkened courtroom below.

"Hey, what about me?" Butch growled from outside.

Cassidy paid him no mind except to shush him when he awkwardly dragged himself over the wall and clattered down onto the stands below the window.

"Hehe, sorry," he grinned, rubbing his bruised behind.

They got out their torches, shining them low to the ground so as not to alert any security guards outside the room.

"What a mess," Butch whispered. "Musta been quite a party."

"Whatever went on here, you'd think they'd clean up after themselves," Cassidy grimaced. "Why would they just close up and leave the place in this state?"

"Makes you wonder why it wasn't on the news, huh?"

"Oh, please. The Pokémon League keep everything hushed up if they can. We only know about this because those morons Jessie and James nearly gave the boss radiation poisoning."

Butch snorted. "Man, those guys are such looooosers! The one time they do something right and they end up damn near killing the boss!"

"Shhhh!" Cassidy scolded. "It'll be the boss damn near killing us if he has to bail us out of jail again! Now shut your trap!"

They carried on in relative silence, weaving in and out of the lopsided chairs and clumps of ceiling plaster.

"Eww, gross, there's water all over the floor," Cassidy huffed. "Typical. I just cleaned my boots before we left."

"What are we even supposed to be looking for?" Butch called over, only his swamp green mop visible.

"Anything out of the ordinary," she recounted.

"Well, that narrows it down," he scoffed. "We always get the grunt work. It ain't fair."

Propping up a mostly dry chair, the disgruntled agent plopped himself down, folding his arms behind his head in a defiantly casual manner.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Cassidy said.

"Taking a rest, what does it look like?" he nonchalantly replied. "Nothing going on, anyway."

Though his blonde counterpart tried multiple times to shift him, Butch just sat there staring carelessly off into space. He twirled the ball of gum he had been chewing around his finger, reaching forward to stick it underneath the giant pokéball table. The moment it touched the wooden surface, a disproportionately squelchy sound reverberated right around the empty courtroom.

Cassidy scrunched her nose up. "Oh my god, Bunch, did you just…?"

"Butch, Butch, Butch, Butch!" he snarled back. "And it wasn't me! It was…what the…"

There was no chewing gum on his finger when he retracted it from under the table. Instead, his whole hand was practically encased in a gelatinous blue sludge, cold and translucent blue in colour.

"Yuck!" he yelled. "Get this crud off o' me!"

"Wait, Bungle," Cassidy murmured. Butch didn't even bother correcting her this time. "Hold it up to the scanner."

He did just that, closing his fist so none of the goop ran down his arm, while his partner swiped a handheld device across the covered area. A readout on the screen swelled bright red, and she stood up straight with victorious poise.

"Scrape it off into this bag," she instructed, handing him a polythene sleeve. "I think we've got exactly what we came for."

* * *

_ **The next morning…** _

"The trainers will please take their positions."

Great orbs of light burst from the spotlights at the edges of the underground arena. Ash stepped up to his mark on the stony battlefield and assumed his trademark battle stance.

"This place is amazing," Brock said from the raised seating at the side. "I had no idea it even existed."

"Yeah," Misty acknowledged. "Who'd have thought there'd be a whole battle arena underneath the Pokémon League Pavilion?"

Virtually the whole gang had turned up to watch Ash's qualifying match, as he knew they would. It was quite a struggle to find the place, given that it was not signposted anywhere in Indigo Plateau, but Lance had luckily run into them on the way and shown them to their seats. From the far side of the arena, the silhouettes of two slim but imposing women gradually took form as they walked out of the dark competitors' tunnel.

"There she is!" Misty oozed, enraptured. "Oh, I'd just die to be half as magnificent as her!"

"Hey, Prima!" Ash waved over at the bespectacled redhead to his left.

"How nice it is to see you again, Ash," she greeted. "It'll be interesting to see how far you've come since our battle on Mandarin Island. However, in this setting, I'd prefer it if you called me Lorelei."

"Lorelei?" he queried.

"Prima is…something of a stage persona, you see. When it comes to official Pokémon League business, I always go by my legal name. Hope you don't mind."

"Her name's really Lorelei?" Misty gasped. "How did I not know that?!"

Ash then looked to the woman on the opposite side. She was slightly younger, with waist-length hair an elegant silvery blue colour. Her pale eyes met his at that exact moment, and she grinned slyly.

"Your reputation precedes you, Ash," she purred. "My name's Karen. My pokémon are a force to be reckoned with – let's hope our battle doesn't _darken_ my day, hmm?"

They all looked at the judge, who commenced his pre-battle spiel.

"This will be a four-on-four double battle between Ash, the challenger, and Lorelei and Karen of the Elite Four," he stated. "No more than two pokémon per side can be active on the field at any one time, and only the challenger may substitute."

"Go, Piloswine!" Lorelei cried. From her pokéball came a hairy, tusked creature, grunting its name in anticipation.

"Umbreon, come on out!" Karen said thereafter. Misty cooed when the elegant noir eeveelution materialised.

Ash looked at Pikachu. "You ready, buddy?"

"Pika!" he nodded, bounding into place.

"Okay, then…" Ash fingered the pokéballs along his belt, "Glalie, I choose you!"

"Glalie!" roared the horned, grey ice ball, guerning his signature guern.

Misty turned to Brock, about to comment on the excitement of the scene below them, until she noticed his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Lorelei in her attack pose.

"Would you look at those…" he breathed drunkenly.

Her eyelids lowered. "For your sake, Brock, I hope you're talking about her pokémon."

"Ready…" the judge held up the two flags in his hands, "begin!"

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

Pikachu scampered towards Piloswine with a white trail whooshing behind him. The attack hit it dead-on before another command could be given.

"Umbreon, hit back with Faint Attack!" Karen ordered.

"Glalie, protect Pikachu!" Ash countered.

Glalie soared across the arena, taking the hit for Pikachu and thus providing an opportune window of vulnerability.

"Now, Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

His tail glowed white, and with a little mid-air flip, Pikachu slammed down towards the ground. But Umbreon sensed the counterattack and leapt out of the way just in time.

"Piiii!" Pikachu squirmed, his tail lodged in the ground.

"Piloswine, use Earthquake!" Lorelei shouted.

"Piloooo…" its chubby front paws raised up, "swine!"

The floor of the arena rippled outwards from Piloswine's feet, sending chunks of stone flying up into the air.

"Pikachu, try to break free!" Ash pleaded. Pikachu yanked and writhed at his pinned tail, screeching as the earthquake drew closer.

"Oh man," he mouthed. "Glalie, shoot at the ground with Ice Beam!"

Glalie began to charge up a ball of blue energy between his horns.

"Not so fast," Karen interjected. "Umbreon, jump and grab onto Glalie!"

"Umbree!" it nodded. The strategy was a double-whammy; in leaping upwards, Umbreon was spared the damage from its ally's Earthquake attack, and its claws then latching onto Glalie's underside disorientated the Face Pokémon to such an extent that the Ice Beam he was preparing shot straight off into the air.

"Pikaaarrrghh!" wailed Pikachu, taking the full brunt of the Earthquake and thudding to the ground after being thrown sky high.

"Ouch. That was a super-effective move," Brock winced. "There's no way Pikachu will be able to withstand another attack like that."

"Are you okay, Pikachu?" Ash cried.

"Chuu," he coughed. That attack had taken it out of him, alright, but he wasn't beaten.

"Your pikachu is resilient, Ash," Lorelei commented. "Piloswine, Double-Edge!"

Piloswine lunged with unnatural speed towards Pikachu, giving the weakened pokémon little chance of escape.

"Glalie, spin around!" Ash shouted.

"What's he up to?" questioned Tracey.

With Umbreon still clinging on, Glalie began to rotate on the spot, increasing in speed until his features were beyond recognition.

"Faster, Glalie!"

The faster he went, the looser Umbreon's grip became. Quickly, there came the point when Umbreon was simply unable to hold on any longer, and that was when Glalie jerked over to his left, shaking it off right into the path of Piloswine's Double-Edge.

"Umbreon!" said Karen.

"Now, Pikachu, get on top of Glalie's head!" Ash ordered. Glalie rose a few feet into the air with the head-mounted Pikachu poised to strike.

"Catch them up, Umbreon, and use Confuse Ray on Glalie!"

Though compromised by the unintentional friendly fire, Umbreon rocketed back over to its trainer's side and released an unsettling wave of magenta. Glalie was bathed in it within the second, and began to rock back and forth, almost spilling Pikachu from his vantage point.

"Gaah!" Ash cringed. "Glalie's confused!" He looked over at the opponents' pokémon, who were waiting vigilantly for their next commands. They were in the perfect position for an all-out offensive, but he had to act fast.

"Pikachu!" he barked to the teetering pokémon. "Jump and use your Thunderbolt!"

Sparks crackled at Pikachu's cheeks. "Pi-kaaaaaaa…" he made his leap of faith, "CHUUUUUU!"

The arena floor was showered with sheets of xanthous static. Piloswine, being a ground-type, was unaffected due to its immunity to electric attacks. But Umbreon, weakened already by its encounter with the Double-Edge, stood no chance.

"Um-breeee…" puffed the sizzled feline as the electricity diffused.

"Umbreon is unable to battle," declared the judge. "This round goes to the challenger, Ash!"

"Alright, Ash!" Misty cheered down at him. "Way to go!"

"Well done, Umbreon. Return," Karen smiled, enveloping her pokémon in the pokéball's red light. "Not bad, Ash, you've gotten an early lead. But I'm afraid it's just beginner's luck. Go, Honchkrow!"

From her second pokéball came a proud, bearded bird of prey, its jet-black plumage unfurled wide as it sliced through the air.

"Honchkrow, huh?" Ash thought aloud. "Bring it on! Glalie, Icy Wind!"

What Ash had forgotten, however, was that Umbreon's parting gift had befuddled Glalie to such an extent that he was unable to distinguish friend from foe. Unleash an Icy Wind, it did – but straight at Pikachu.

"Pikaa?!"

Pikachu narrowly avoided the frosty flurry, though not without a residual chill on his tail.

"Yikes," Ash faltered. "Glalie, return."

"Smart move," Lorelei remarked as Glalie disappeared into his ball.

"Time to step up," he said, unclipping his next pokéball. "I choose you, Krookodile!"

"Krookodile!" grinned the stylish red reptile that stomped powerfully down on the ground.

"I've never seen that pokémon in the flesh before," Misty said to Brock. "Look at its sunglasses!"

"Reminds you of Squirtle, doesn't it?" he laughed.

"Okay, Krookodile, use Dragon Claw on Honchkrow!"

"Dodge it!" Karen rebutted. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't hard for the flying pokémon to do just that, as it simply flew upwards out of Krookodile's reach.

"Keep trying, Krookodile!" Ash persisted. "Pikachu, Agility!"

While Krookodile clawed ever upwards, Pikachu sped past him towards Piloswine.

"Rock Slide, Piloswine!" said Lorelei. From thin air rained moderately sized boulders, intended as blockades for Pikachu but proving no match for the little mouse's speed.

"Now, Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

He jumped, like before, aiming downwards with his freshly tempered tail.

"Blow him away with Blizzard!" Lorelei strategised. Knowing it had not the time to move, Piloswine put everything it had into the blustering snowstorm it fired towards his foe. The attack hit its mark, buffeting him relentlessly, but was not enough to cancel his momentum, and Pikachu landed a clean strike, causing dust and snow to obscure the scene for a few nail-biting seconds. When everything settled…

"Pikachu is unable to battle! Lorelei and Karen win the round!"

Ash sighed, running to scoop up the battered Pikachu in his arms. "Don't worry, Pikachu," he comforted him. "You did your best."

After placing him off to the side of the battlefield, the pokémon trainer prepared to launch his final pokémon.

"Alright," he said. "Go, Totodile!"

The small blue crocodile somersaulted out of his pokéball and danced gleefully on the spot. Krookodile eyed the performance over the top of his sunglasses and snorted haughtily.

"Two crocodile pokémon at once," Karen observed. "How theatrical. This should be a good one."

"Totodile, use Water Gun on Honchkrow!" Ash jumped in. "Krookodile, Stone Edge!"

While Totodile spewed out a water torrent towards the flying opponent, Krookodile summoned a helix of sharp rocks around his body, which then flew sequentially outwards at the two opposing pokémon.

"Piloswine, stop those stones with another Rock Slide!" Lorelei pointed.

Like before, boulders rained down all over the arena. The majority had Lorelei's desired effect, crushing Krookodile's projectiles before they made impact, but a few of the stones still made it through. On top of that, the Rock Slide had made it doubly hard for Honchkrow to avoid Totodile's Water Gun. Jarred by the many flying objects, the Big Boss Pokémon found itself momentarily trapped, allowing Totodile to land a direct hit.

"Awesome, Totodile!" Ash congratulated.

"Honchkrow, are you okay?" Karen called out. It nodded resolutely. "Okay, use Whirlwind!"

Its wings outstretched, Honchkrow began to flap vigorously, creating a swirling cylinder of air that swept up Krookodile in just seconds. The vortex was fierce, and forced its captor back into his pokéball by reducing it to a shapeless energy. That was not all, however, as the attack also dragged out an unwilling substitute from Ash's belt.

"Glalie?!" he exclaimed. "But how…?"

"Whirlwind is an attack that replaces a pokémon with another in the opponent's team," Brock explained. "Glalie has a type advantage against Honchkrow, but seeing how much it's battled already, I'm not sure how long it'll last."

The pokémon's confusion had, at least, worn off, so Ash decided not to waste any time.

"Glalie, Headbutt on Piloswine!"

"Intercept with Drill Peck!" Karen told Honchkrow.

"Totodile, Scary Face!"

As Honchkrow was about to attack, Totodile pulled a horrifying expression, one that unsettled it enough to slow its incoming offensive significantly.

"Fast as you can, Honchkrow!" Karen encouraged. Glalie's course towards Piloswine was quick, and the Scary Face had seriously hindered her own pokémon's speed. Try as it might, Honchkrow simply could not pull off its attack in time to stop its opponent.

Similarly, Lorelei knew that speed was not Piloswine's forte, and so moved to strike back with a head-on attack of her own.

"Piloswine, charge towards Glalie with Double-Edge!"

"Double-Edge again?" Brock questioned. "Even if Piloswine comes out on top here, the wicked recoil damage that Double-Edge causes may be too much for it."

Both pokémon collided in a violent crash, blocked from view by dust and rubble. It faded after several seconds, and, given the conditions of the pokémon in question, the result was far from shocking.

"Glalie is unable to battle!" the judge announced. "Piloswine is the winner!"

"Ah, shoot," Ash sighed.

"Excellent work, Piloswine," Lorelei praised – mere moments before the ice- and ground-type's harsh chunk of blowback damage took its toll.

"Pilooo-uugh," it panted as it slumped down to the ground.

"Both pokémon are unable to battle!" corrected the judge. "This round is a tie!"

Lorelei returned her pokémon at the same second that Ash returned his. "Well, Ash, looks like it's neck and neck right now. I must say, I'm impressed, so far."

Ash weighed his options carefully. This match was a true challenge, and despite the adrenalin rush, he was already down two pokémon. The second half of the battle had to be his absolute A-game; Lorelei and Karen, after all, were pokémon masters for a reason.

* * *

In a candlelit café not far from the Indigo Stadium, a seasoned journalist was hard at work on her next masterpiece. She'd only just met the girl and her poor psyduck, but liked them both immediately, and in a situation where everyone had known everyone else for years on end, writing the whole, raw, unembellished truth about Misty and the tragedy of her gym was the relative newcomer's way of contributing on an equal level.

"Almost there," Alexa said to herself, drumming her pen against her lip. "I really hope I've done this story justice."

The interview with Misty the night before had been an invaluable insight, and she made extra sure to capture every last nuance of emotion in her writing. Those fiends in the PokéTrust had tarnished the name of the Cerulean gym leader more than enough. It was about time people knew the truth.

"Get well soon, Psyduck," she sighed as she closed her notebook. "In a few hours, every region from here to Alola will be rooting for you."


	7. VI: A Planner in the Works

CHAPTER 6: A Planner in the Works

Ash eyed the pokéball rolling around the palm of his hand. Both sides were down to two pokémon now, though the fight was far from over. The Elite Qualifier was every bit as challenging as he'd expected, and the prospect of battling two Elite Four members simultaneously still as exciting even now, at the halfway point of said showdown. In a way, it almost seemed wrong to win – but that sure as hell wouldn't stop him.

"Looks like you're up again, Krookodile," he smiled at the ball before hurling it upwards. "Go!"

Krookodile appeared several feet away from Totodile, just like before. The tightness with which his short arms were folded suggested his forced removal earlier had irked him somewhat.

"Slowbro, come on out!" Lorelei mirrored. On the battlefield before her, the pokéball's white light compressed into a chubby, bipedal, dinosaur-like shape.

"I knew she'd use Slowbro," Misty squealed.

Karen pointed forward. "Honchkrow, Sucker Punch on Totodile!"

Her avian pokémon swooped across the arena, and though still hindered by the Scary Face attack, by no means did that make it a slow hitter. Ash called for Totodile to dodge the attack, but in just seconds, Honchkrow had swept up the little reptilian pokémon with a black streak of energy originating from its wing.

"Sucker Punch is a move that always hits first," Brock commented. "But it fails if the opponent is not readying an attack. Totodile would've been unaffected if Ash had done nothing."

"Are you okay, Totodile?" Ash called out.

His pokémon stumbled when getting up, but quickly broke into another dance.

"Totototototototo…!'

"Okay, then, run up Krookodile and use Slash!"

Krookodile looked around, affronted by the very idea. As Totodile scampered behind him to leap up his back scales, the prideful Intimidation Pokémon lifted up his thick tail at the last second, causing his teammate to slam his face right into it and fall over.

"What?!" Ash gasped. "Krookodile, why'd you do that?!"

Over his shoulder, Krookodile just grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"I take it these two pokémon have never battled together before, hmm?" Lorelei observed. "Slowbro, use that to your advantage with Surf!"

"Honchkrow, fly up!"

The two pokémon acted in perfect synchronisation. Slowbro waved its pink arms to summon a tidal wave the entire width of the battlefield, while Honchkrow soared above the attack to avoid being hit.

"Uh-oh," Ash mumbled. "Krookodile, use Dig! Totodile, jump in the hole after him!"

With his powerful claws, Krookodile mashed and pounded at the hard stone surface. An opening gradually formed, and his body disappeared through the makeshift tunnel he had created. As Ash had instructed, Totodile bounded down into the tunnel alongside Krookodile with only seconds to spare.

"Quick, use your Stone Edge to block up the hole!"

The sharp stones were released from the rings around Krookodile's body, clumping together to seal up the orifice just as the wave rolled over the top. Despite each stone holding firm, a gap remained in the covering, into which water spilled violently.

"That water's going to do massive damage to Krookodile if it keeps getting in that hole," Brock said with concern.

The scheming Krookodile, however, knew this just as well, and, unfazed, reached up to plug the gap with the first thing he had to hand.

"Totoooooo!" Totodile cried, his tail and hind legs buffeted by the raging water.

Ash did a double take. "Huh?! Krookodile, stop it! Get Totodile out of there now!"

Karen, meanwhile, saw this as an opportunity to strike. "Drill Peck, Honchkrow, while it's exposed!"

Totodile could hear the attack coming as the wave passed over. He squirmed and wriggled, but would not budge, and Krookodile just sat there smirking at him. Instinctively, the Big Jaw Pokémon unleashed an intense Water Gun attack, dousing Krookodile but creating enough pressure to propel him right out of the hole. As luck would have it, too, the technique sent him so high into the air that Honchkrow flew right underneath him.

"Kroourrghk," winced Krookodile, having taken a super-effective attack from its pesky ally.

"What's going on?" Ash said to himself. "Totodile and Krookodile have done less damage to Lorelei or Karen's pokémon than they have to each other!"

"This is worrying," Misty sighed. "It's like Charizard all over again."

Ash shook off his doubts and turned back to the action. "Krookodile, keep digging! Totodile, grab onto Honchkrow with Bite!"

A crashing sound followed by a worming trail of raised earth across the stadium confirmed that Krookodile was on the move. At the same time, Totodile leapt upwards, and with his powerful jaw, sank his teeth deep into Honchkrow's leg.

"Kroooooow!" it wailed in pain.

"Shake him off, Honchkrow!" Karen said. The bird whooshed in wide circles around the arena, but Totodile's grip kept him clamped on like a vice.

"Slowbro, Amnesia," Lorelei calmly ordered. As Krookodile's tunnel spiralled round in front of it, Slowbro cocked his head sluggishly to the side. A number of blue question marks appeared around its head, and when it tapped the ground with its foot, they floated straight over to the raised mound and burst like bubbles upon it.

"What was that?" Ash said, though when Krookodile showed no sign of slowing down, he shrugged it off. "Oh well. Now, Krookodile, break out behind Slowbro!"

The tunnelling stopped at the far edge of the battleground. With its knees bent, the subterranean pokémon prepared to launch itself through the stone and rejoin the fight. But in making his move, Krookodile sprung upwards only to smack his head hard on the ceiling of the tunnel.

"Krookodiiiiile…" came a dizzy-sounding moan from under the ground.

"Krookodile?" Ash cried. "What's wrong? Use Dig to break out again!"

"Oh no," Brock murmured.

"What is it?" Misty asked him.

"Slowbro's Amnesia attack must have made Krookodile temporarily forget how to use Dig," he responded. "It'll take a lot of energy to break out without it. Maybe more than he has left."

"Good job, Slowbro," Lorelei commended. "Now, use Ice Beam."

A pale blue stream of ice fired out from the pink pokémon's maw, freezing a line of ground before it and causing it to crumble, including Krookodile's mound. Although this saved its opponent from overexerting himself trying to escape, the close-range attack had dealt moderate damage and encased his tail in solid ice.

"Honchkrow!" Karen shouted. "Get rid of Totodile with Thunder Wave!"

Having failed to free itself from Totodile's hold, Honchkrow raised up its feet and began to build up electricity in its beating wings.

Ash looked to Slowbro, who seemed ready to launch another attack on Krookodile. "Totodile, use Slash on Honchkrow's left wing!"

The little crocodile unclenched his jaws and pulled itself up Honchkrow's leg. The Thunder Wave was a second away from forming, so he had to be quick. Once at eye level with the bird, he leapt away, raising his stubby claw in mid-air and swiping his opponent roughly at the crest of its wing.

"Hooonch-k-krowww!"

It dipped down at the moment of impact, its flight pattern veering off to the left. The Thunder Wave it had been preparing was loosed the second after, and, rather than hitting Totodile, the crackling electrified sheet was sent straight towards Slowbro.

"Oh!" Lorelei said as sparks danced around Slowbro's rigid body.

"What a move!" Brock remarked. "Having Slowbro paralysed should really work in Ash's favour."

When Totodile landed with a flip back down on the ground, Ash turned back to his other pokémon. "Krookodile, break free with Dragon Claw and then use Crunch!"

Krookodile slashed his icy tail from its constraints with ease, then jumped up in the air towards Slowbro. Despite her pokémon's paralysis, Lorelei kept her composure.

"Try to turn around, Slowbro," she said gently. The encouraging tone spurred on the staticky pokémon, and with great effort, it managed to heave its stiff body around to the side. Krookodile, having no time to change his course, ended up smashing his mouth into the spiked, stony shellder fused onto Slowbro's tail.

"Kroooooooooooook!" he howled as his teeth clacked against the impenetrable shell. He broke away immediately and held his jaw in agony.

"One last Drill Peck should finish this!" Karen asserted.

Honchkrow cawed in agreement, sensing the opportunity for attack in Krookodile's incapacitation. Its beak spun like a drill, and it divebombed straight towards its foe.

"Krookodile, dodge!"

But Ash's warning came too late. The attack was a direct hit, sending Krookodile flying into the wall at the back of the arena. His sunglasses slipped down his face when he landed, revealing dark, stupefied swirls in his eyes.

"Krookodile is unable to battle," the announcer stated with a wave of his flag. "Honchkrow takes the round!"

"Return, Krookodile," Ash said as his pokéball absorbed the tired pokémon. He looked down at what remained of his team. "Just you now, Totodile. We can do this."

"I hope you're not slowing down, Ash, because we're just getting warmed up!" Karen chirped. "Okay, Honchkrow, Sucker Punch!"

Honchkrow flew towards its target, staying incredibly low to the ground. It got closer and closer, but Ash didn't utter a syllable.

"That's it, Ash, wait it out," Brock said.

"Huh. So he does learn things after all," Misty smiled to herself fondly.

Sure enough, when Honchkrow flew within striking distance, the attack it was readying simply failed to take.

"Just what I was counting on," Ash nodded. "Water Gun, Totodile, full power!"

From Totodile's mouth blasted an enormous rush of water, and with Honchkrow hovering just metres away, the attack was a devastating blow.

"Now follow it up with Headbutt!"

The giant splash died down, and Totodile leapt straight through the middle, slamming into his weak opponent with his head and taking it out once and for all.

"Honchkrow is unable to battle! The winner is Totodile!"

"Alright, Totodile!" Ash celebrated. "You still good to go on?"

"Toto-dile!" he cheered back, despite being rather tired at this point.

Karen returned Honchkrow and stepped backwards into the shadows. "One down, one to go," she said in good spirit, "but don't think you're beaten yet, Ash."

Lorelei and Slowbro nodded simultaneously. "Your move," she offered.

"Well, then," he thought for a moment, "Totodile, use Water Gun again!"

Another stream of water flowed from his mouth, albeit a much weaker one. With Slowbro still paralysed, the attack landed without any difficulty.

"Okay, rush forward with Bite!"

As his little legs began to carry him towards his target, Lorelei crouched down to her knees.

"Slowbro, listen to me," she whispered softly. "You may be paralysed, but you're not defeated yet. I know you have the power to push through this and win. Are you with me?"

"Slow…bro," it groaned with a smile.

"That's the spirit," she smiled. "Now, use your Yawn attack."

Panting, Slowbro blew a large pink bubble, which floated away and flew straight into the unprepared Totodile's mouth.

"Dile?" he stopped, his eyelids suddenly growing heavy.

"Oh, that's not good," Ash cringed. "Totodile, don't give up now! Bite attack!"

The tenacious reptile kept going, though tiredness quickly caused his tiny steps to buckle.

"To…to…" he yawned groggily.

"Think, think, think," Ash chanted. "Wait, that's it! Totodile, fire a water gun up into the air!"

Using its last few waking breaths, Totodile summoned a straight jet of water with his neck craned ninety degrees to the sky. It hit the high ceiling and dispersed into a light but steady precipitation. Just as his eyes snapped shut, Totodile felt a speck of water on his nose. Then another. Then another still. Soon, he was wrapped up in this rapturous rainfall embrace, the crisp droplets revitalising him instantly.

"It worked!" Ash laughed triumphantly.

"Ingenious strategy," Lorelei remarked. "Slowbro, Ice Beam."

"Dodge it, Totodile!"

With strength anew, Totodile leapt dextrously out of way and recommenced its charge across the field.

"Another Ice Beam," she added. "Keep it up."

Multiple shots were fired his way, but the energised starter pokémon evaded them all. Upon reaching Slowbro, his steps turned to hops, and he instinctively performed a somersault on a particularly high bounce.

"This is it, Totodile!" Ash reinforced. "Bite attack!"

"Surf, Slowbro."

Inches from making contact, Totodile was swept away yet again by a vicious tidal wave.

"Argh, this is painful!" Misty whined. "Just bite it, already!"

"I would've thought you'd want Lorelei to win," Brock said with a little wink.

"I…er…" she hesitated, "shut up, you're distracting me."

He turned back to the battle. "Lorelei's pokémon seem to favour defence over attack. Slowbro's battled for a while now, but it's barely taken any damage. If Ash wants to win this, he's got to move in close and get some serious hits in."

"Diiiiile!" Totodile cried as the wave sent him tumbling backwards.

"Totodile, get on top of the wave and use your tail to balance yourself!" Ash improvised.

Totodile grinned widely as it swam up to the wave's apex. Placing its tail down like a rudder, he stretched his arms out and found, to a degree, that he was able to steer himself atop the water tower.

"No way!" Tracey yelled in amazement. "Is Totodile actually riding that wave?"

"I've never seen a Surf attack taken quite so literally before," chuckled Professor Oak.

Ash laughed as he caught a glance of their expressions. "Now, Totodile, ride that wave back around to Slowbro!"

"Totototototototo-dile!"

With his tail, he swished the water repeatedly to curve it in the opposite direction. His own occasional Water Gun attacks added invaluably to his momentum.

"One last Ice Beam, Slowbro," Lorelei commanded. "Aim it at the water."

The attack did as instructed, and the raging wave froze into one solid piece. Totodile was thrown off his perch and sailed through the air with flailing limbs.

"Okay, now Bite, go!"

For the umpteenth time, Totodile readied his dark-type attack. But unlike previous attempts, this time it actually worked. His jaws tightened around Slowbro's head, and through a combination of its growing fatigue and the super-effective physical strike it had just been gifted, the psychic-type pokémon collapsed unconscious with an opaque thud.

"Slowbro is unable to battle!" boomed the announcer. "Totodile wins, and the victory goes to the challenger, Ash from Pallet Town!"

It took more than a moment for the realisation to sink in. Ash Ketchum, the pokémon trainer of almost twelve years who'd narrowly lost out on every single League championship he'd gone in for, had conquered the Elite Qualifier. Only when Totodile came bounding into the man's arms did he finally snap out of his delirium.

"We did it!" Ash cried at the top of his voice. "We actually beat two of the Elite Four! You were so awesome out there, Totodile!"

Misty, Brock and the whole rest of the group were on their feet.

"Woooohooo! Wait to go, Ash!" they cheered.

"Pika pika chu!" squeaked Pikachu from the sidelines.

Lorelei and Karen walked into the middle of the battlefield after all of the pokémon had been returned.

"I haven't had a battle that exhilarating in a houndoom's age," Karen smiled, shaking his hand. "The techniques you employed with your pokémon were just inspired!"

"I agree, Ash," nodded Lorelei. "I'm in awe of how strong you have become. Please, accept this badge as proof of your victory here today."

She held out her hand, upon which sat a ruby red badge with a golden 'P' on it. Ash took the prize and held it proudly up to his friends and family.

"Does this mean…?" he asked, just to be sure.

"It does, indeed, Ash," she said. "Welcome to the Indigo League."

* * *

After a hearty celebration lunch, the large group mostly dispersed. Delia, Professor Oak and Alexa (the latter apologising profusely for missing the battle) bid their farewells before heading back to Pallet Town; Violet and Lily announced they were off to scout out the "local hotties", which everybody thought it best not to question; Daisy and Tracey, who had agreed to stay in Indigo Plateau for the time being, returned to the apartment to fix up their new room; and as for the three old friends that remained, there was only one destination on their agenda: Indigo Labs.

"Whoa!" Misty yelped as she stumbled on her approach to the front door. Looking down, she noticed a damp bouquet of flowers crumpled flaccidly under her foot.

"Who'd leave these just lying around out here?" she said, picking them up and placing them on a nearby bench.

Inside the building was an even more peculiar sight. More flowers, piled high along the corridor walls, along with banners, posters and pokédolls. They practically had to swim their way through the treasure trove to reach the door to the lab.

"What is all this?" Ash spoke up. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder to inspect a plush toy almost identical to him.

"Professor Cairn, are you in there?" Brock asked, knocking on the cold metal. The door creaked open, and the mild-mannered man appeared with his usual jovial expression.

"Ah, good afternoon, Brock!" he greeted. "And Misty, too! I was wondering when you'd arrive."

They stepped in one by one, each gasping when they noticed yet another mountain of flora and fauna in the opposite corner to where Psyduck was.

"It seems you and Psyduck have a lot of admirers, Misty," Cairn commented.

"Admirers?" She blinked. "Wait…you mean these are all for me? And Psyduck?"

"It was quite an ordeal getting in this morning, I'll admit," he chuckled. "There was a queue of people all the way back to that big tree across the street! After they left, we had a couple of dozen deliveries, some from as far away as Sinnoh. I did my best to shift everything into here, but, well, it just kept coming."

The trio wandered curiously around the pile, occasionally picking out something of interest to examine more closely. Scrawled on the banners were variations of the phrase, "Get well soon, Psyduck!", while the sheets of paper, seemingly made by young children, were mostly finger paintings or prints of cartoonish water pokémon. One poster in particular caught Misty's eye: a crude stick figure with a wonky smile and scribbly orange hair, underneath a large multicoloured caption reading, "We love you, Misty!"

"But…how?" she thought aloud. "How did anyone know we were here?"

"I wondered the same thing at first," said Cairn. "But then I sat down with my cup of tea to read the paper, and there was one article that jumped right out at me."

He walked to the alcove at the back of the room and returned seconds later holding a fresh newspaper. Turning it to the right page, he handed it to Misty, who, after scanning through the information herself, passed it to Brock to read aloud:

"_By now, you will have no doubt heard about the tragedy that befell the Cerulean City Pokémon Gym on August 14__th__. If that is the case, then you may also very well have caught wind of one or many outrageous rumours surrounding the incident: was it a terrorist attack? An act of cruelty from a jealous fellow gym leader? An elaborate insurance scam? Or, perhaps, was the building just perilously unsafe? Well, dear readers, today is the day to put to rest these bogus tales of debauchery and scaremongering, for I write to you, with exclusive interviews and eyewitness accounts, the pure, heartbreaking truth of gym leader Misty Waterflower, and the miraculous hidden power of her pokémon."_

At the end of the paragraph, Brock stopped to clear his throat, and Ash and Pikachu moved in closer, where they noticed Alexa's name and photograph in the corner of the page.

"_Over the last ten days, I have come to know Ms. Waterflower well, and consider her a close personal friend. It has been both a pleasure and a struggle seeing her through this tumultuous time, which is why, before proceeding any further, I want to clear something up once and for all, as both a first-hand witness and an impartial scribe: MISTY IS NOT TO BLAME."_

Despite having read the words already, hearing them spoken out loud made Misty smile with a comforting warmth.

"_Seven years ago, she and her friends were harassed by three men calling themselves the Invincible Pokémon Brothers, who were revealed to have ties with the criminal organisation Team Rocket. These brothers later showed up at the Cerulean gym, where their vicious attack almost resulted in the deaths of both Misty and her newly evolved Gyarados. A representative of the Pokémon Inspection Agency banned them from all pokémon-related events, and they were presumed to have left Kanto. However, just days ago-"_

"Brock, can you please skip ahead a bit?" Misty interrupted gently. "I don't ever want to hear the names of those three villains again."

He nodded in understanding. "Erm, right, let's see…" he skimmed past each section mentioning either them or the PokéTrust. _"The concussion Psyduck received from the blow gave him a headache so severe that the dormant psychic power inside his mind became too much for him to control. This power tore the gym apart in minutes, and the poor pokémon in the middle of it all could do nothing to stop himself. Now, I know what you're thinking: isn't this all a little far-fetched? Believe it or not, that was the exact word they used in court. But in reality, Misty's psyduck is no ordinary pokémon. His abilities are not simply the result of a whack to the head, and nor is he just an unwitting host to some greater force within him. As confirmed by both Ms. Waterflower and her best friend, Ash Ketchum, the only reason they escaped the wreckage unharmed was because Psyduck, knowing his injury would cause them harm, transported them to safety using Teleport while he stayed behind in the face of grave danger. Tell me, loyal readers: does this sound at all like a mindless or malevolent pokémon to you?"_

The further he got into the article, the more invested the listeners became. There was something so gratifying, so climactic about finally hearing a recount of these events as they were meant to be heard.

"_The Waterflowers have since been issued a formal apology by the Pokémon League and rehomed temporarily in Indigo Plateau. Psyduck, meanwhile, continues to receive specialist care, supervised as we speak by a hand-picked expert of whom Saffron City gym leader, Sabrina, was once a pupil. He is in good hands, but their problems are far from over, and so I ask, to pokémon lovers all over the world: please join me in showing your support for Misty Waterflower, a woman who has faced attempted murder, grotesque accusations from the court and the media alike, and the destruction of her entire home only to emerge from it all even stronger; and for Psyduck, the gallant pokémon who sacrificed himself to save his master from a terrible fate. In the run-up to the Indigo League Conference, let our thoughts and prayers be with them."_

When the bulk of the text transitioned into a full interview between Alexa and Misty, Brock thought it appropriate to stop, and the looks of contentment across the room told him they'd heard more than enough. Misty looked at Psyduck, then over at the pile of gifts, things given by people she'd never met out of the goodness of their hearts, and felt a little moisture playing at her eyes.

"Wow. This…this is all…" she started, but emotion left her unable to finish.

"I know, Mist, isn't it great?" Ash took over for her. "Good job you've got such a big place, eh? All this stuff'll need a whole room to itself!"

Professor Cairn stepped forward. "Pardon me, young man, but am I right in thinking you're Ash Ketchum?"

"Er, yeah, that's me," he answered, surprised.

"Ah, I thought so!" Cairn nodded. "You're exactly as Misty described you yesterday."

"You talked about me?" Ash directed at Misty, who shrugged in embarrassment.

"Oh, at length, I should say," he added playfully. "She told me all about the adventures you had together as children. Say, how is your Indigo League application coming along?"

With a proud grin, Ash pulled out the Pokémon League badge from his jacket pocket. "I beat Lorelei and Karen this morning, so I'm in."

"Lorelei and-?! Why, they're members of the Elite Four! You must be an incredibly strong pokémon trainer to have performed a feat like that!"

He scratched his head. "Ehehe…well, my pokémon deserve most of the credit."

Cairn smiled, then swatted his balding head in disbelief. "Dear me, where are my manners. I'm Professor Cairn. As of yesterday, Psyduck is my patient, and my number one focus."

"How is Psyduck, Professor?" Misty prompted.

"See for yourself."

As he beckoned the group over to the serum tank at the left of the room, each of its members' jaws dropped in sequence when they got a good look inside. Though still comatose and suspended in liquid, Psyduck looked as if he'd simply fallen asleep on a normal day in Cerulean City. His wounds had vanished without so much as a scar, the skin around his eyes was free of its hideous dark bruising, and even the stubborn flecks of grease that had refused to wash off were nowhere to be seen. It was like looking at a completely different pokémon.

"I don't believe it," Brock exhaled.

"How is this possible?" Misty said with equal shock.

"Total saturation," he reminded her. "I've been tinkering with this serum for decades. Since psychic pokémon are far more cognisant than other types, their reactions to medicine and other outside agents require a certain degree of mental 'permission'. Judging by the speed at which Psyduck has healed, I'd say he really does want to get better."

Something about this made Misty smile – if only the idea that her Psyduck was still in there, somewhere.

"So, can we wake him up now?" she asked.

"Oh, not yet, I'm afraid," he stated solemnly. "I'll need to gather more data before I deem it safe. Until we know what we're dealing with here, waking him up would undoubtedly do more harm than good."

He turned his head to stare blankly at a nondescript corner. "The body can recover from almost anything," he muttered. "But mental scars…now those are the ones that leave a mark…"

An odd pause rang out after this, leaving everyone quite unsure what to say next. Thankfully, the cryptic professor soon snapped himself back from whatever reverie he seemed to have slipped into.

"Anyway, shall we get Psyduck out of the tank, then?" he asked brightly. Misty, slightly taken aback, was nonetheless enthused by this idea.

"Show me what to do," she said.

"Oh, it's all automated," Cairn explained. "Have you ever tried to lift a drowzee before? Or a jynx? This machine has saved me many a hernia over the years, that's for sure."

He pointed down to a button on the console. "But you're welcome to do the honours."

Smiling, she pushed the button, and with a dramatic sucking noise, the green liquid drained gradually out of the capsule like water from a sink. After a second button prompt from Professor Cairn, the latches on the glass door popped open, and the dripping Psyduck, still in his harness, was lowered down to a table below the unit on a pair of extendable rods.

"There we are," said Cairn as he carefully detached the harness. "We'll give him a bath, and the tank will need sterilising. After that, I'd like to put him back in, if that's alright with you."

"Put him back in?" she repeated. "But why?"

"An upright pose is better for blood circulation than lying in a bed," he pointed out. "It may accelerate his healing process. Also, I modified the capsule to double as an oil diffuser when dealing with an awkward gardevoir some years ago. There should still be a bottle of Spring Gracidea in my car – I thought it might be soothing for him."

Misty thought for a moment, and then nodded her head sincerely. "Yeah, that sounds nice," she concurred. "Thank you for everything you're doing here, Professor Cairn."

"Well, I haven't really done much yet, Misty," he grinned bashfully, "but you're very welcome."

Ash turned his head. "Hey, I was thinking of heading outside to train now. Wanna come with me?"

"Training?" she questioned. "Right after your battle?"

"You saw what happened with Totodile and Krookodile, Mist. It almost cost me the match. If I'm gonna win this thing, I've gotta whip these guys into shape, and fast."

She couldn't very well argue with that. The peculiar animosity between the two reptilian pokémon had been hard to watch.

"Point taken," she conceded. "Sure, I'll come. Will you be alright here, Professor?"

He smiled warmly. "Oh, don't worry about me, Misty, Brock and I will take care of everything. You two go out and have a good time now, okay?"

With expressions to match, Misty and Ash said their goodbyes and weaved their way through the minefield of gifts up towards the exit.

* * *

"So, whereabouts were you thinking?"

"That big hill over there by those trees looks like a good spot."

"Okay, let's g-"

Misty stopped when her left pocket began to vibrate. She slid the pink-trimmed pokégear out of her shorts and held it a few inches in front of her face.

"It's Daisy," she said. "I'd better take this."

Two basic graphics appeared on the screen – one for her, and the other resembling her sister.

"Please tell me you haven't burned down our new house already," she groaned into the receiver.

"Oh, Misty, you're, like, so funny!" came Daisy's sarcastic squeal. "Anyway, you gotta get over here. Some guy was just at the door with a package for us. I think it might be the plans for, like, our new gym!"

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, totally! Oh, and he said to flag up any, like, issues we have, or they're just gonna go ahead and start."

She sighed. "Okay. I'm on my way."

Pocketing the device again, she turned to her confused friend. "Sorry, Ash. Daisy says the plans have arrived and they need me to look over them before they're finalised."

"You're leaving?" he asked, slightly hurt. "I thought you said you'd help me train!"

"I'll come back when I'm done, you big baby," she tutted with a little smile. "Just get started without me, okay?"

Then across the plaza she ran, leaving Ash to make the short journey alone to the hill he had his eye on. The sky was slightly overcast, making for a cooler and therefore much more pleasant day to train, and the newest Indigo League entrant was eager to get stuck right into the intense preparation with his team of all-time big hitters.

"Okay then…" he said as he reached the top of the hill, "come on out, everyone!"

He threw his five pokéballs up into the air, and they all burst open simultaneously, bathing the forest edge in a blinding white light that soon morphed into distinct shapes:

The mighty Charizard, loosing a plume of fire with a powerful roar; the vivacious Totodile, who had already more than proven himself in the Elite Qualifier; the majestic Staraptor, his red-tinted comb blowing in the updraught of his flapping wings; the proud Krookodile, grinning confidently with his shifty eyes concealed behind unique red glasses; the tenacious Glalie, spinning himself into a floating somersault as he emerged; and to complete the set, Pikachu hopped down off Ash's shoulder and took his place at the end of the illustrious League lineup.

"Hey, guys!" he cried in excitement. The greeting was met with growls, chirps, screeches and all manner of other sounds.

"This is a special day for us," he declared. "We're going to compete in the Indigo League, and I've chosen the six of you specially so we can give it all we've got and win this thing! You with me?"

Another chorus of cries followed.

"Now, some of you haven't battled together before, so this is gonna be a learning curve for all of us…"

Krookodile shot a sly glare down the line at Totodile and snorted.

"…but I know if we all work together and pool our combined strengths, those other trainers won't stand a-"

"OH MY GOD, I THOUGHT THAT WAS YOU!"

Ash broke off his pep talk to tend to the shrill searing pain in his right ear. Swivelling to identify its source, the young man was met with the presence of a woman wearing yellowish dungarees, a light brown T-shirt, and a grin as wide as the Driftveil Drawbridge.

"Long time no see, Ash Ketchum," she winked at him. Her face was familiar, but Ash couldn't put a name to it.

"Uhhhh," he uttered dumbly.

"What? Don't you remember me?" she teased. "It's me, Macy!"

And remember he did, once that final piece to the puzzle was uncovered. He hadn't seen the Mahogany Town native since his time in Johto almost eight years ago. Like all of the people he'd befriended, though, she and her fire-type pokémon had made quite a lasting impression. She was a lot taller now, just a head below Ash, and her brown hair flowed down to her mid-back, no longer bound in those girlish pigtails. From what he could tell, her bubbly personality was still very much the same, but he was relieved to see she'd lost her rather slapped-cheeked look of youth that went with it.

"Oh yeah, hi!" he said in confirmation. "Glad you remembered me, too."

She gasped in amusement. "Silly Ash, how could I forget the one that got away?" Her eyes wandered up and down his toned body. "Man…you've turned out to be quite a stud. Ooh, stop, you're bringing me out in a hot flush!"

Her dainty hand fanned her reddening face, and Ash took a subtle step backwards. "Ehehe…" he breathed uneasily.

"So, I heard about what happened to Misty's gym," Macy said. "That must've been so hard for her. Is that why you're here?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Misty and her sisters are living here now. Also…" he got out his Pokémon League badge, "I'm in the Indigo League."

"No way!" she gushed. "Me too!"

Out of her satchel, the woman produced a badge case, inside which were eight gleaming badges from each of Kanto's gyms.

"Got my last one just a couple of weeks ago," she beamed. "Aren't they pretty?"

There were a few among the collection that Ash did not recognise. It would, indeed, have been fun to challenge the other Kantonian gyms he hadn't visited the first time around. While he was looking, however, Macy interrupted him with a tap on his shoulder.

"Erm, Ash, are these your pokémon?"

Following the pointing finger, Ash cringed at the sight of the six aforementioned 'big hitters' engaged in a puerile row.

"Hey!" he yelled at them. "Cut it out right now!"

Bit by bit, the squabbling died down, and the restless pokémon fell back into line. Krookodile crossed his arms and turned away.

"So, no need to ask how your training's going," Macy giggled. Ash huffed in humiliation. "Have you tried a buddy system?"

"Buddy system?" he queried.

"Pair them up, and have them look after each other during training. It's a great bonding exercise, as well as giving them a constant challenge to overcome."

She walked up and down the line in contemplation. "You could put Charizard and Staraptor together since they're both flying types…Pikachu and Glalie could be fun…and _this_," she smirked at the two remaining pokémon scowling at each other, "this one's a no-brainer."

* * *

At the precise second the door to the apartment opened, Misty was pounced upon and dragged right across the room to the sofa.

"Waaah!" she yelped. "What's the big idea?!"

"We waited for you!" Daisy whined. "Come on, come on, come on, open it, already!"

Misty took the brown envelope on the table with a look of scepticism. "Why are you so excited about this?"

"Like, I wanna see our new digs, why else? This place is sooooo awesome, though."

"Well that's good, because they've still got to build the new gym first," Misty smirked. Carefully, she ran her finger along the flap of the envelope and scooped out the wad of sheets that lay inside. Some were traditional blueprints, some were stripped back room plans, and some were more colourful conceptual designs. Naturally, the latter were what caught their eyes first.

"What is this?" Misty frowned, holding up a large painting.

"It's beautiful," Tracey opined.

"Hardly," she objected. "And it's WAY too big for our plot of land. They must have given us the wrong plans."

"No, Misty, look, it says right there: _Cerulean Gym Artist's Rendering, Version 1.0."_

"Well yeah, but…but…" she persisted, her breath growing erratic, "look at it!"

Tracey and Daisy moved back. "What about it?" Daisy probed.

Misty stood up and began to pace around. "Does this really scream 'pokémon gym' to you? Looks more like a creepy spy headquarters if you ask me, something straight out of Area 28! I mean, which prize moron thought to design a place specifically meant for pokémon battling out of goddamn glass?!"

"Misty, come on, now…" Tracey attempted to cut in.

"And what's this in front of it, some kind of memorial garden? Probably for the heart and soul that went into the old gym, I'll bet."

"Jeez, Misty, chill out!" gasped Daisy. "Besides, it's, like, only a concept drawing. You haven't even looked at any of the other ones yet!"

She rolled her eyes, not wanting to admit that her ditsy older sister was right. The glossy paper slapped down on the table as Misty picked up another, immediately wishing she hadn't – for this one was of the battle area. Her domain.

"A ROCK FLOOR?!" she shrieked. "IN A WATER GYM?!" The page crumpled in her clenched fist. "Oh, that's it."

"Wait, where are you going?" asked the startled Tracey as his future sister-in-law made for the door.

"I'm going to find that miserable excuse for an architect and tell him exactly what I think of his so-called 'plans'," she growled.

"Oh, for Mew's sake, Mist, why are you so ungrateful?!" Daisy bit back. "Like, stop being such a brat!"

Misty ignored the irony of that statement. "Daisy, this isn't just a gym to us. It's our home – _my_ home – and I won't have the Pokémon League turning it into some joyless, by-the-book pitstop that trainers come to just to get their badge and go. The thought of that makes me sick. It's outrageous!"

Regardless of the sense she was making, they knew they couldn't stop her once she started. She snatched up the pile of documents and stomped towards the door, almost pulling it off its hinges.

"Do you really need to go, like, all the way over there just to make a point?" Daisy sighed. "They gave us a form specifically to flag up our issues!"

"Oh, I'll flag them up, alright," she snarled on her way out. "He'd just better pray I use the narrow end."

Once outside, there was no stopping the furious woman's warpath. Her eyes were fixed on the Pokémon League Pavilion at the end of the plaza, and neither person nor pokémon nor potted plant was going to get in her way. She burst through the lobby doors, raced up the stairs stopping only for a one-second look at the floor map, and pelted down the corridors like a rampaging primeape. The door at the end was unmarked, but she knew she was in the right place, and, rather than knocking, Misty opted for a rather less subtle approach – by kicking the door in with her heel.

"Alright, wise guy, I wanna know just what you think you're playing at here, and don't pretend you don't know what I mean because I'm _really _not in the mood!"

The office was but a tiny square, with a desk directly in front of her. The snake sitting at it was obscured behind a large computer monitor.

"Wyyaaaaaah!" he jumped in fright. "Wh-Who are you? Take whatever you w-want, just don't h-hurt me!"

"I'm the gym leader of Cerulean City, and if you don't get your slimy, overpaid ass out of that chair in ONE second, then so help me, I'll-"

But then he did – and Misty's resolve, as well as the remaining breath in her lungs, evaporated on the spot. This man was a million miles away from what she had expected. He looked only a couple of years older than her, for starters, and his posture and stuttering suggested a kind of frailty, uncharacteristic of someone who worked for the Pokémon League. Those were only the trimmings, however, for what stunned her the most was the thing her thumping heart had picked up on the instant he had risen to his feet. A thought, fleeting at first, but vivid enough to keep growing, and growing, and growing, until it was the only thing she allowed herself to see.

_He looks just like Ash._

The man cleared his throat timidly. "You're…M-Misty Waterflower, aren't you?"

Misty's mouth opened, but no words would come out. In that moment, it was if she'd forgotten how to perform the most basic of functions, staring straight ahead being the sole one she remembered. There were differences about him, of course, aside from the way he carried himself. His height– at least six foot four, she guessed – was an immediate standout, and his bright blond hair, while a similar style, was not nearly as spiky or untameable. But those eyes…the same shape, the same warmth, the same deep brown colour _exactly_, and with the boyish cheeks and facial features to match…the likeness was uncanny.

Realising the pause had been unusually long, Misty forced herself to answer with a stiff nod of her head.

"Is this, u-um, about the plans?" he asked with a slight shiver. Fighting off the involuntary blush, the conflicted woman quickly remembered she was supposed to be angry.

"Yes, it is."

The man bent double, roughly scraping his hands through his hair. "You hate them, don't you?" he strained. "I knew it! I knew I'd bitten off more than I could chew here! 'Hey, how about a full-time developing job at Celadon Game Corner?' they said; _'Nah, screw that, I'm off to the Pokémon League!' _Well, who's the one laughing now, huh? Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

His self-effacing brought Misty out of her temporary catatonia, and despite still having an axe to grind, she suddenly didn't feel the need anymore to deliver it quite so…aggressively.

"Whoa, hey, slow down there," she shushed. "I wouldn't say _hate_, exactly…but I do have some problems with the design."

He dropped back down into his chair and sighed. "S-Sorry," he mumbled. "This is the first high-profile job I've ever been given. They let me ch-choose which gym to work on, and since my brother and I are, well, kinda big fans of yours, I knew I had to go with Cerulean. I guess I hoped my new design would, um…impress you." He blushed three shades of red. "But they never g-gave me enough time, and after the accident last week, the deadlines only got tighter, and…ugh, I feel so stupid."

With his head in his hands, the sullen man didn't notice Misty walking further into the office. Feeling oddly relaxed around this person she'd met less than five minutes ago, she leant against the windowsill and put on a smile of genuine sympathy.

"Look, I have to be honest," she said gently. "I can't say I agree with a lot of what I saw in this folder. I came down here to tear you a new one, but…" she looked down, "I guess I didn't know the situation you were in."

"Wh-What do you mean?" he whimpered.

"I thought you were going to be just another brutish goon who wouldn't listen to reason no matter what I threatened them with," she explained, "but I can tell you're not. You're…different."

His eyes brightened. "Good different?"

"…Yes. Good different," she plainly answered, not quite knowing what he was expecting there. "It could be too early to tell, but I just feel like I won't be banging my head against the wall while we're working together."

Standing up, the docile artist took a deep breath and beamed. "Th-Thanks. I really appreciate that. I'm Adrian, by the way. Adrian Planner." He moved to hold out his hand to shake, but then shyly retracted it. "Hey, listen, um, Ms. Waterflower…"

"Call me Misty."

He blushed again. "M-Misty…I'm sorry you didn't like the plans I drew up. I know it's, well, a lot different to the first gym, but if you'd like, I can talk you through the more…extreme design choices I made."

She said nothing as if expecting him to keep going, so, with a nervous chuckle, he did just that.

"And b-besides, those were just the prototypes. I left the better drawings back at my apartment, so, erm, if you're not doing anything, we could, I don't know, head over and t-take a look?"

A pink tint of both embarrassment and disbelief swept across Misty's face. "You want me to go back to your apartment?" she repeated in a surprisingly high pitch.

"Or not!" Adrian blurted out. "I didn't mean to, um, overstep or anything."

The look of innocence on his face made the flustered gym leader unsure whether or not he even knew what he'd just asked. His question alone was shockingly intimate, and the implications after that…well, she dared not think.

"Erm…" she began tentatively, "thank you for the offer, Adrian, but I agreed to help my friend Ash train for the Indigo League, so I think I'd better get back to-"

Before she could finish, the girl's wandering eyes chose that exact moment to pick out two figures playing atop a nearby hill. The first was unmistakeably Ash, whose iconic hat alone would've given him away, not to mention the pokémon dancing around him. But the other figure took a degree of squinting to identify, and the instant she did, only her gritted teeth saved her from the uncontrollable desire to retch. Longer hair and a lither form wouldn't be enough to fool her – she'd know that bothersome blast from the past anywhere. _Macy._

"You know what?" she changed tack, half-lidded eyes fixed coolly out of the window. "Never mind. Your place it is."

* * *

"You're late," grunted a senior technician as the shutter doors to Team Rocket's science department rolled up. "A whole day late, to be precise."

"Oh, go cry about it, egghead," Jessie scowled. "Just give us our pokémon so we can get the heck out of here."

The irked man swiped a stylus over his PDA, and the conveyor belt separating him from his three obnoxious clients whirred to life. From a dark chute at the end slid two shining pokéballs, stopping when directly in front of their recipients.

"Et voilà," he snarked caustically, gesturing for them to be on their way. James picked up one of the black, 'R'-crested balls and frowned.

"Don't you have something that matches our outfits a little better?" he shrugged glumly. Smirking at the sheer audacity, the technician simply turned tail and stomped briskly away.

"Jackass," Meowth sniped. "Anyways, come on, you guys, let's see what we's got!"

"Please don't be another magikarp," James begged directly to the ball.

Jessie, not wanting to wait, snatched her pokéball off the conveyor belt and flung it straight down at her feet. With baited breath, they waited for the emergent light to take shape, each blink of their eyes revealing another strange angle or appendage. After what seemed like hours but in reality was a mere second…

"Vreeeeee!"

The quadrupedal pokémon was very odd indeed. Its front half was furry and amicable, and its hind half blackened and ominous. Jessie, of course, was stationed near the latter end, and barely caught a glimpse of the thing before the toothy face at the tip of its tail snagged itself a mouthful of her hair.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" she shrieked. "What is this creepy thing?!"

"It's a girafarig!" observed Meowth. "They say da tail's got a mind of its own."

"Well, someone tell this mind to mind its own business!" she bellowed as she prized her mangled locks out of the grinning black mouth.

"Vree, Vreeee!" laughed Girafarig from its more conventional front head.

"It's not funny!" Jessie huffed, returning the capricious psychic pokémon to think on its sins.

"My turn!" James sang, holding up his pokéball. "Go!"

Immediately, they saw that the occupant of this ball was much smaller. When the light from the capsule finally disappeared, the looks on Jessie and Meowth's faces were, to say the least, underwhelmed.

"Is that it?" Jessie said with mild disgust.

"Where's da rest of it?" Meowth joined in.

James, however, wore a beaming smile as bright as an exploding voltorb.

"Ahh!" he cried, holding his arms out to the little pokémon. "A mareep! We used to have mareep roaming the grounds of my parents' mansion, but I've always wanted one of my own!"

"Mreeeeeeep, mreeeeeeep!" the electric ball of wool baaed, bounding into her new master's arms and snuggling him affectionately.

"Just remember, James, you've actually got to battle with this one," Jessie reminded him, "so don't go all Chimecho on it and turn it into a big softie."

"If it's even got any guts ta begin with," Meowth sneered.

"I know, I know," he acknowledged. "But look how cute she is!"

"Well, I tried," she sighed, picking her teammate up by the scruff of his neck. "Come on, let's get out of this dump."

Through the long corridors they trudged, getting lost multiple times despite having reported to this building for most of their adult lives. Passing one of the larger laboratories, a few familiar voices could be overheard, and they instinctively stopped to listen in through the wall.

"You have done well, my agents," the boss's voice echoed from inside the room.

"The specimen you obtained from the Indigo Courthouse will be invaluable to my research," Professor Sebastian stated. "My original samples have largely either dried up or been consumed in my ongoing experiments."

"Oh, it was no problem at all," smarmed a familiar female voice. "Isn't that right, Bulge?"

They heard a groan laden with gravel. "How many times do I gotta tell ya, it's B- oh, I give up."

"Cassidy," Jessie hissed in revulsion.

"And Burke," James noted. "What are they doing here?"

"And how come they're with dat creepo Sebastian?" added Meowth. "Don't they usually get their orders from Dr. Namba?"

"Now," Giovanni said, "let us discuss your next assignment. I have a number of undercover agents stationed in Indigo Plateau as of yesterday. This morning, one of them brought to my attention this article, written by a woman with links to both the Cerulean gym incident and the Indigo Courthouse."

Butch took the newspaper and tucked it under his arm. "Ah, I get ya," he nodded. "So you want us to take her out?"

"No, Crutch, I do not," he snapped. "If you'd actually care to look at what I have given you, you'll see that it is the psyduck I am interested in."

With a roll of her eyes, Cassidy snatched the paper away from her partner and skimmed over the text. "I don't understand," she murmured. "What's so special about this psyduck?"

"That is what we must find out. I believe that the substance you have brought us is somehow connected to this pokémon, and if we discover the source of Psyduck's power, the possibilities could be endless."

"Are they talkin' about da twoipette's psyduck?" Meowth pondered.

"Sir, I feel it prudent to inform you that I, too, have a contact based in Indigo Plateau," Sebastian's emotionless drone sounded out. "If the need arises, they may be of great use."

"Excellent," Giovanni approved, then turned back to Cassidy and Butch. "I have received word that the pokémon of interest is located in Indigo Labs. Your mission henceforth should be clear."

"Capture Psyduck," Cassidy affirmed.

"Let nothing stand in our way," Butch jumped in. They joined hands.

"And spread the eternal glory of Team Rocket!"

Jessie heard a rumbling sound from her spot on the wall. "They're coming, they're coming, move!"

As Butch and Cassidy exited the lab, their rivalrous co-workers darted down the hall and hid inside an empty store room.

"That was close," James panted.

"So, the perfect _Saint Cassidy's_ off on another mission," Jessie spat. "Do you know what this means?"

"It means they's gonna get the big promotion while we're stuck scrapin' the goop off o' da boss's car," Meowth sighed.

"Not if we beat them to it!" she exclaimed.

James raised a lavender eyebrow. "What are you suggesting, Jess?"

"Look, we heard where those two losers are headed, and the boss seems to think this is really important. I say we should get there before them and swipe Psyduck for ourselves!"

"I guess it would be a good opportunity to test out our new pokémon," James commented.

"Exactly. If we do this, the boss'll praise us for taking the initiative, and Cassidy and Burt will be demoted to our personal bootlickers! Hahahaha, it's win-win!"

"Then what're we waitin' for?" Meowth cackled.

Bursting out of the cupboard, the grinning trio galivanted down the hallway with a euphoria-fuelled haste.

"Team Rocket's striking gold again!"

* * *

His apartment was on the outskirts of Indigo Plateau, about a twenty-minute walk from the Pokémon League Pavilion. Misty didn't mind the distance, although it would have been nice to have a little more conversation during the journey. She wasn't used to being around people as quiet as Adrian, and couldn't deny that it made her feel a little uneasy. But despite this, some small sense deep within her core told the young woman that she could really be herself around this new and unusual person. For a reason she couldn't quite rationalise, she liked him.

"Well, a-as you can see, I'm definitely not overpaid," Adrian laughed as they entered the small abode.

"I think it's nice," she said, all the while feeling guilty about her earlier comment.

"Can I, um, get you something to drink? Tea, coffee…?"

"Just water, please," she smiled at him. Walking into the front room, Misty noticed immediately how clean and well-kept it was. On the mantelpiece were several photographs, the nearest of which she picked up and inspected.

"That's my younger brother, Cormac," Adrian explained, handing over her water.

"Your brother?" she asked. "I don't see much resemblance."

He chuckled. "Y-Yeah, we get that a lot. I'm nothing like him p-personality-wise either. People sometimes ask us if we're r-really related."

"I know the feeling," she grinned. "My sisters always called me the runt because I acted so differently to them."

"That's horrible!" he said in shock.

Misty shrugged. "Oh, don't worry, I'm used to it by now. So, is Cormac a pokémon trainer?"

"Oh y-yeah, he's coming to compete in the Indigo League, actually," Adrian confirmed. "Didn't you say your friend Ash was, too?"

The mention of Ash brought spiralling back to Misty's attention the shy architect's eerie similarity to her friend in question. Why did she keep picking up on this? What did it matter? She had to wonder what sense there was in blowing off Ash to spend time with someone who looked scarily like him. But then, of course, she was all too aware of how different they were on a fundamental level. Ash was far too busy with Macy to care about where she was, so why should she feel bad about being around someone who did care?

"You said you had plans to show me," she uttered rather sharply. Adrian, though slightly confused, nevertheless went to fetch the drawings, returning in no more than thirty seconds.

"H-Here we go." He sat down on the sofa, clearing his throat nervously when Misty sat down beside him. "I…figured this was the one you were most annoyed about."

And indeed, it was.

"Yeah…the rock floor," she grimaced warily.

"I get what you mean," he said, "but th-there's actually a reason why I designed this. Have you, um, ever heard of mega evolution?"

"Mega evolution?" she asked.

Adrian nodded his head. "Yeah, it's this new thing in the Kalos region, apparently. Some fully-evolved pokémon can be made to evolve even further for a short time, which makes them way bigger and stronger."

He stood up, seemingly excited. "And also, in the Galar region, they say there are pokémon that can grow to over a hundred feet tall! Can you imagine?"

"Wow," Misty murmured, a little bowled over. "That's pretty impressive, but…what's it got to do with my gym?"

"I know your old gym's pool had, erm, floating platforms for pokémon to stand on," he began, "but if someone from Kalos or Galar was to come and challenge you with their humungous super pokémon? They'd sink right to the bottom!"

"So?" she shrugged. "That's where the trainers' skill comes in. They have to adapt to their environment."

"Oh, I-I know, I know. But if trainers keep losing to you because of how the gym is set up, there could be an inquiry from the PIA, and the gym could be shut down on the grounds of being unfair.

"Plus, um, the rock field is only one option," he added when she appeared unconvinced. "I designed it to tuck away under the floor so you can have a pool there, too. I know how much you love the water, so, er…you know…"

"You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?" Misty remarked.

He coyly scratched his head. "Yeah. I may not be the best at spontaneity, but when I have no distractions and enough time to prepare, I can get really into projects like this."

A short silence washed in while Misty looked over the other drawings, and although there seemed little need to talk, Adrian began to fidget as though he felt he should.

"Are you okay?" she looked up.

He waved it off. "Oh yeah, I'm fine, ehehe. I was just wondering…"

"Yes?"

"I know I'm, well, kind of an awkward person, and I stutter like hell when I get nervous around people. Does being here with me make you, I don't know, feel uncomfortable?"

Misty smiled with a mixture of melancholy and understanding. "Well, truthfully, I was a bit shocked by a guy I'd only just met asking me back to his apartment…"

Adrian turned beet red and cupped his hands over his mouth. "OH _GOD_, I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT!"

Laughing, she continued, "but no, Adrian, I don't feel uncomfortable around you. And besides, you're not stuttering now, right?"

This realisation caused him to light up in surprise. "Hey, I guess not!" His blush reappeared. "Erm…thank you, Misty. That means a lot."

"You're welcome," she said gently. "And I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I'll take you to meet my friend Tracey at some point – you guys are really going to hit it off."

"O-Okay," Adrian mumbled, his stutter making a brief comeback.

Selecting a detailed concept piece, Misty held it up to the light and turned to her artistic new associate. "So, what else can you tell me about my new gym?"


	8. VII: Trial by Waterflower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I apologise for the shocking time between uploads. I've got quite a lot going on right now, and this was a particularly hard chapter to write. In any case, I hope you enjoy it.

CHAPTER 7: Trial by Waterflower

"Well, Ash, I'm flattered that you'd come to me with this issue," smiled Cairn, "but why didn't you try the pokémon centre first?"

"Oh, they're not sick or anything, Professor," Ash explained, glancing down at the two pokéballs in his hands, "they've just been acting weird around each other ever since my battle this morning. I thought you might be able to figure out what's up between them."

"I see…" his crinkled brow raised upwards. "Well, I'll certainly do my best! It'll be quite a refreshing change to examine a couple of non-psychic pokémon for once. In any case, it's nice to see you again, young man."

With a nod that conveyed the feeling was mutual, Ash released his two troublesome pokémon on the laboratory floor in front of him. They looked around for a second, then immediately turned to face opposite directions.

"Magnificent," Cairn remarked. "A totodile and a krookodile, both at an impressive level. And, I have to commend your krookodile for its sense of style!"

A cocky smirk formed below the smug pokémon's sunglasses.

"Toto?" Totodile rasped as he looked across the room, spying a familiar face locked in some kind of glass bubble.

"Wanna see your old buddy Psyduck, Totodile?" Ash asked. "You, too, Krookodile – come say hello!"

It was the former that moved first, and as a result, the latter did not budge an inch. His eyes, however, followed the energetic little croc around with nary a blink.

"Ah," Cairn nodded. "I think I'm beginning to see the problem here."

"Really?" said Ash.

The professor hmm'ed in confirmation. "Despite being native to different regions, the totodile and sandile evolutionary lines share a common ancestry, way back to prehistoric times. They're different in a lot of ways, for sure, but one blatant similarity is the need to assert their dominance."

"Dominance? What do you mean?"

"It's a primal impulse, coded right into their DNA," he lectured with obvious enthusiasm. "In the wild, these species are governed by an alpha – a leader, if you will – and any member of the pack may challenge the alpha for the right to take its place. Now, as Krookodile is a fully evolved pokémon, this instinct is far stronger, whereas Totodile's more playful nature comes from its relative youth. Regardless, it could be that your little group of pokémon is seeing its very own power struggle as we speak."

Ash took a moment to piece the fragments together. "Wait, so you're saying Totodile and Krookodile are challenging each other to be the alpha?"

"It's certainly one possibility, yes," Cairn confirmed, "though I feel my other theory is much more likely."

The pokémon trainer looked over at his two temperamental friends as he waited for the professor to elaborate. While Totodile happily danced in front of Psyduck's tank, Krookodile just stood with his head down and his arms crossed, evidently listening in on the conversation but making it look as if he wasn't.

"Since Krookodile is a third-stage evolution and Totodile has yet to evolve, I believe that the former is acting on a kind of ingrained paternal instinct," Cairn said in a hushed voice. "It sees Totodile as its responsibility, and the standoffish behaviour it is showing could be its way of sizing up its new 'pupil', so to speak. Dark-types aren't my area of expertise, but even I know that they're not without a great capacity for compassion."

This idea really seemed to rattle the attentive Intimidation Pokémon. He roared his name in outrage and grabbed Professor Cairn by the collar of his lab coat, lifting him half a metre off the ground.

"Krooooook…" he leered through his tinted shades.

"Aaaayeee!" Cairn cried. "N-Now, now, Krookodile, no need to get upset, it was – ooh, ouch! – just a theory!"

"Krookodile, return!" Ash shouted. The huge red crocodile was sucked into the pokéball, leaving his captive momentarily suspended in mid-air before he dropped down to the floor with a thud.

"Are you alright, Professor?" he asked.

"Oof!" the professor winced as he stood. "Ah, no harm done, Ash. Your krookodile really is quite a character, eh?"

"Yeah," he laughed as he also returned Totodile. "So, what should I do?"

"There's nothing much you can do, I'm afraid. Aside from a good diet and a lot of exercise, the best thing for them is just time."

"Maybe I shouldn't have taken that buddy system advice, after all," Ash frowned.

"Buddy system?" Cairn raised his eyebrow. "Whose advice was that?"

"THAT'D BE ME!"

Skipping through the lab doors came Macy, whose rambunctious personality left the passive scholar rather startled.

"Oh, erm, hello there," he said in surprise. "Are you Ash's girlfriend?"

"Not yet!" she grinned, pinching Ash's cheek. "Ashy here's playing hard to get, but I can tell I'm wearing him down."

"Uhh…" the boy uttered, shivering involuntarily.

"Macy's the name, don't wear it out!" She inhaled deeply. "Mmm, what's that smell?"

"That'll be the gracidea mist from Psyduck's capsule," Cairn explained. Macy rushed over and pressed her face to the glass.

"Hey, this is Misty's psyduck!" she squealed. "You're the talk of the town right now, little guy. Oh, I hope you get better soon!"

Professor Cairn used this opportunity to resume his conversation with Ash. "Say, that reminds me: wasn't Misty training with you earlier?"

Ash's expression suddenly turned glum. "Actually, that's partly why I came to see you, Professor. She said she'd come back to train with me after she was done checking the plans for her gym, but she never did."

"Oh?" he questioned. "Well, Misty was here just an hour ago. I assumed she'd come straight from your training!"

"She was here?"

Cairn appeared curiously sympathetic. "Yes. She was with the architect in charge of designing the new Cerulean gym. Adrian, I think he was called. Quite a charming fellow, if a little on the shy side."

"The architect?" Ash repeated. "You mean she ditched me to spend the whole day with this Adrian guy, whoever he is, and she didn't even tell me?"

His fists clenched, and he ground his teeth in frustration. "Thanks, Professor," he grunted. "Gotta go."

Ash was out the door before Professor Cairn could even attempt to stop him, followed quickly by a frantic Macy.

"Hey, where d'you think you're going, Ash? Wait for meeeeeeeeeee!"

Biting his lip, Cairn stared across at the open door. He ran a hand down his face and sighed with a mix of remorse and anxiety.

"This cannot end well."

A few excuses and a lot of diversions down side streets were required to get rid of Macy for the night, and even then, he'd only managed it by agreeing to meet her again the following morning. Upon opening the penthouse door, a wave of amber sunlight from the huge window momentarily blinded him, and once his eyes adjusted, he noticed that the main living space was completely unoccupied. Surely it was too early for everyone to be in bed?

"Misty?" Ash called tentatively towards her bedroom door. A peculiar rustling sounded from within the room, then the door opened just wide enough for the occupant's head to fit through.

"Oh, hi, Ash," said Misty somewhat tiredly.

"Where were you?" he immediately asked. "I thought you said you'd come back after you were done looking after the plans!"

"It took longer than I thought," she shrugged. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but at this stage, Ash, I really shouldn't have to handhold you during your training anymore."

He blinked in disbelief. "I don't need you to handhold me! You just told me you'd come back, and you didn't!"

Misty leant around the door at an angle where Ash could see over her shoulder. Scattered all across her bed were dozens of blueprints, annotated concept drawings and other such documents, covering so much area that he struggled to even identify the pokémon print on her bedspread.

"Look, I'm really busy, as you can see," she snarled. "And anyway, you looked like you had plenty of company to me."

"Huh?" Ash mouthed, just as the door slammed right in his face. Standing there, barely five seconds elapsed before he heard Misty's voice pipe up again.

"Oh, and the architect, Adrian, is coming here in the morning, so I'll need the front room."

After that, silence fell, and the gobsmacked pokémon trainer was left alone to wonder just what the hell that was all about.

* * *

At the strike of eleven, the front door to the Waterflowers' apartment was met with three timid knocks.

"Good morning, Adrian!" Misty smiled as she beckoned in her guest. "Did you find the place alright? I remembered you worrying about getting lost yesterday."

"Oh y-yeah, it was fine," Adrian laughed. "I guess I was j-just overthinking."

Walking into the room, he flinched slightly as Daisy and Tracey came forward to greet him.

"Adrian Planner, I'd like you to meet my sister, Daisy," Misty gestured with an outstretched hand, "and Tracey Sketchit, one of my oldest friends."

"Nice to meet you!" they both chirped.

"H-Hi," Adrian awkwardly acknowledged.

"Daisy, can I talk to you for a minute outside before we start?" said Misty. Daisy nodded and stepped over to her side.

"You're g-going?" the meek architect inquired.

"I won't be long, Adrian. Besides, it'll give you and Tracey a chance to get acquainted in the meantime, right?"

Smiling, Misty led Daisy out into the hallway and closed the door firmly behind her.

"Oh my _god_, Misty," whispered Daisy. "You weren't kidding; he really does look like Ash!"

"I know," she mumbled, her head down.

"I mean, if his hair was, like, black instead of blond, and he was just a teensy bit shorter…"

"Yes, I'm aware, thank you," Misty snapped. The elder Waterflower sighed in foreboding.

"Why do I, like, get the feeling I know what you wanted to talk to me about?"

With a look of shock that quickly turned to defeat, the blushing Misty flung her hands up in the air.

"I'm just confused, that's all!" she groaned. "Adrian's nothing like I expected. We hung out at his apartment for hours yesterday, and-"

"Wait, you, like, went back to his apartment?!"

"Not like _that_." She rolled her eyes. "He was talking me through his designs. They actually made quite a lot of sense once he explained them, even if they're going to take a bit more growing on me. Sure, he's pretty shy, and awkward, and maybe a little hard to understand at times…"

"But you like him?" Daisy teased.

"Well…yeah, of course I do."

"Because he looks like Ash?"

"No! I mean, er, yes! I mean…ugh."

She massaged her temples, taking a breath to calm herself. "He's a really nice person, and I feel like we could be good friends – but he looks like Ash, and I can't help wondering: is that the only reason I was up half the night thinking about him?"

Daisy had seen the question coming from a mile away, if not exactly phrased in the way she'd expected. Answering this one would take some careful thought, indeed, especially considering her younger sister wasn't particularly known for her patience.

"…Right," she whistled through her teeth, "okay…erm…"

"Oh, so you don't know either," Misty huffed. "Well, that's just brilliant."

"Now, hold on a minute, sis," Daisy countered. "I, like, never said I didn't know. But first, tell me more about cute little Adrian, will you?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Is this you helping me, or are you just looking for gossip?"

When Daisy just giggled, Misty decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Well, er, after he got comfortable talking to me, I noticed that there's kind of an old-fashioned way about how he speaks. He describes things with such emotion and passion; it's almost like poetry to listen to."

"Mhm?" Daisy nodded, gesturing for her to carry on.

"And, I got the sense that he's quite a romantic, too. There were so many romance novels I recognised on his bookshelf, and his apartment was full of beautiful plants and scented candles."

"Scented candles?" her smirking sister cut in. "You sure he isn't, like, battling for the other team?"

Misty glowered irritably at her. "Yes, Daisy, I'm quite sure. He just seems much deeper than other boys, the kind who'd really listen and be there for you, and, well, I admire that about him."

With a confident nod to herself, Daisy knew exactly where to go next. "You know, Mist, that kinda reminds me of someone you told me about, like, a few years ago. That guy from the Orange Islands who asked you to live with him or something?"

"Rudy?" she identified with an immediate jolt. "That sure was a long time ago. Hmm, I guess they are quite alike in that way."

"You, like, also told me about someone before that, in the Indigo League. Robbie, was it?"

Misty scratched her head. "That doesn't ring a bell…" then she thought some more. "Wait, do you mean Ritchie?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

"What about him?"

"You said he was, like, basically a clone of Ash, right?"

"Erm," her face scrunched up, "not a 'clone', exactly. He looked and dressed kinda similar to him, but their personalities didn't always line up. Anyway, what's he got to do with anything?"

Daisy placed a hand to her chin. "Well, I was just thinking: Adrian's pretty much a combination of those two guys, wouldn't you say? He looks like Ritchie, and he acts like Randy, or, like, whatever his name was."

"Huh?!" Misty gasped. "I've…never thought of it like that. But why are you…?"

"You were friendly with those two boys, but you never, like, had any feelings for them."

"That's right," she said with a degree of anxiousness.

"'Cause they both had the same problem, didn't they?"

The redhead's stomach flailed and thrashed itself into an uncomfortable knot. She had a feeling where this was heading…

"Don't say it, Daisy," she warned, her cheeks heating up.

"They, like, weren't Ash."

Like the calm before the storm, there was but a momentary silence, bulldozed through straight after with a thinly masked verbal beatdown.

"Just stop!" she growled. "Every time you bring this up, and every time it's the same old crap I'm so sick of hearing! Can't you change the record, just once?! Ugh!"

Daisy shook her head whimsically. "Oh, give it a rest, Misty, it's, like, painfully obvious," she winked. "Plus, we've all read your diary, remember?"

Rather than risk her ire another time, the grinning Waterflower sister carried straight on. "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I had a crush on, like, two identical twins at once?"

"No," Misty grunted, though secretly intrigued.

"Jason Hernandez," she sighed with nostalgia. "Man, he was sooooooo hot. He had, like, this million-dollar smile and these gorgeous blue eyes – the _perfect_ guy. Everyone told me I should go for his brother, Mason, instead, because he, like, had his life together and was gonna be real successful and stuff. But you know, even though he was just as dreamy, I could never like him the same way I liked Jason, no matter how hard I tried. Wanna know why?"

She cocked her head as if to say yes.

"I eventually realised that even though Mason was everything my head told me I wanted, he, like, wasn't who my heart had chosen. And it's the same now! I mean, would anyone have thought me and Tracey were a perfect match on paper?"

Misty certainly couldn't argue with that. Her pokémon watcher friend and swimsuit model sister were probably the most unlikely pair she'd ever encountered.

"The point is, Misty, we all think we've got a 'type', us girls. For you, it's really smart, sensitive boys like Adrian, I can tell. But one day a guy always comes along who's, like, way different to that, and you don't understand why but you just know, deep down in your heart, that he's the one. Anyone come to mind?"

"I'm not stupid, Daisy," Misty sighed impatiently. "Ugh, fine. It's been so many years since I've seen him that, well, I guess I began to wonder if I still felt anything for him at all, and wasn't just clinging onto some old childhood crush. But suddenly he's back in my life again, and there's this feeling in my chest, something so strong – I just don't know what it is. And now, there's someone who looks just like him-"

"There, that right there!" Daisy cut in. "You're looking for Ash in other people, sis. That's not going to help anyone, especially not you. Why don't you, like, do yourself a favour and just cut out the middleman?"

She broke off with a sisterly smile, leaving the confused young woman to wrestle with the advice she'd just been fed. In the confusion, admitting her most guarded secret hadn't been nearly the feat Misty thought it would be.

"Ash…" she murmured. But even after that, there was still a crinkle in her brow. "I don't know, Daisy. You've given me a lot to think about – but Adrian's still inside my head, and I really feel like I need to be sure."

With her eyes pointed to the ceiling, Daisy quickly came up with an idea. "Then why not ask him out to dinner tonight?"

"Dinner?" the stumped Misty clarified. "As in a date? But why?"

"Well, not a _date_, per se, you don't wanna lead him on too much – trust me, I've been there! But once you, like, get to know him better away from all this gym stuff, maybe you'll feel less conflicted about this whole situation, don't you think?"

The prospect was strangely daunting to Misty; despite her age, she'd only ever been on two or three dates, and never once had she played the initiator. But the uncertainty she felt was sorely unneeded on top of all of her other worries, so if this was the best way to alleviate it, then she'd be prepared to give it a shot.

"I guess it could help me iron out a few things," she thought. "Okay, sure, why not? At the very least, I'll probably get a free meal out of it."

"That's my baby sis," giggled Daisy, "and hey, who knows? Those guys could be in there right now talking about the exact same thing!"

* * *

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

To say that Adrian was uncomfortable was the grossest of understatements. New people, an unfamiliar place, an inescapable situation – any one of these would have given him trouble on its own, and here he had all three. Making the first move in conversation was definitely not his forte, so in the silence he was forced to loiter awkwardly around, keeping his eyes busy by pretending to show interest in the paintings near the doorway. Naturally, Tracey found the man's behaviour very odd indeed.

"There's no need to hang around in the corner, Adrian," he smiled over at him. "Here, come and have a seat. I don't bite, honest."

Though his first instinct was to decline, Adrian hesitantly slipped into the seat opposite the pokémon watcher, wringing his hands in anxiety.

"So, how long have you worked for the Pokémon League?" Tracey asked.

"Oh, er, n-not long," he replied. "I'm m-mostly freelance."

"Sounds like an interesting job," he chuckled. When Adrian only smiled in response, Tracey deduced that perhaps small talk wasn't the most sensible tactic here.

"I hope you don't mind if I sketch while we wait for them to come back in," he said, picking up the pad on the seat next to him.

"Oh, n-no, that's fine," Adrian nodded. He watched Tracey pluck a pencil from his bandana, tucked just out of sight behind his greenish black bangs. As soon as it met the paper in his hands, the enigmatic architect's eyes brightened.

"That's an Ilex Fineliner, isn't it?" he asked with uncharacteristic confidence.

Tracey looked up. "Sure is. It's the Farfetch'd gauge, made with authentic Azalea Town charcoal. How'd you know that?"

"Oh, I used to use them all the time in high school," he answered. "I think I prefer the Fearow-eye gauge these days, though. The lines are so much crisper."

"Ah, but they're also famously fragile. I go with the Farfetch'd ones because they're so much more reliable on the road."

Adrian grinned with intrigue. "Huh. I guess I've never thought about it from a traveller's perspective before." He shuffled further forward on his seat. "So, you're an artist, then?"

"Well, not professionally or anything," he chuckled, "but yeah, it's always been a hobby of mine. I help Misty out whenever she needs painting done, too – or, well, I did, when she had a home."

"Mind if I have a look?" Adrian gestured towards the sketchpad. Tracey gladly handed it over, watching humbly as this seemingly kindred spirit pored over his work.

"They're all relatively new," he pointed out. "Shame a lot of my other books went down with the Cerulean gym."

"Oh man, that's too bad," the man sighed. "Wait, why'd you keep them at Misty's gym? Did you used to stay there often?"

"Well, I am engaged to her big sister, after all."

Adrian dropped the pad into his lap. "No way!" he exclaimed. "You and Daisy? I'd honestly have never put the two of you together. Um…no offense, that is."

"None taken," Tracey laughed. "We hear that a lot. I guess it's true sometimes that opposites attract, right?"

Their dual chuckling rang out for a second or two, dying away into a silence that was, to their surprise, not wholly unpleasant. Still, that didn't stop the cogs in Adrian's head from turning, for he suddenly found he had a lot of questions.

"Hey, er…Tracey, was it?" he spoke up moments later.

"That's me," the pokémon watcher grinned.

"You've known Misty for a long time, haven't you?"

"Oh, you can say that again. It's coming up to eleven years, now! Why do you ask?"

"Well…" he averted his gaze, his face reddening, "it's just that I've been a big follower of the Indigo League for years, and the Cerulean gym has always been one of my favourites. I…never thought I'd one day meet _the_ Misty Waterflower; she's not at all how I expected her to be. I'd feel stupid asking this to her directly, so, um…"

"You want me to tell you more about her?" Tracey deciphered, which was confirmed with a shy nod. "Sure thing."

And tell him he did, right from the very beginning. The focus was, of course, on their adventures in the Orange Islands, but the twenty-five-year-old man had heard his old friend's Kanto and Johto tales enough times to be able to relay most of them with ease. Adrian was riveted, absorbing every last detail with absolute fascination. Despite this, there was something about hearing these amazing stories that saddened him a little, and whether it was his own lack of adventure or, indeed, lack of companionship, he could not be sure.

"But then, after the Johto League, she got a call from her sisters saying they were off on a trip around the world," he concluded. "Her bike was fixed, too, so she was forced to leave her friends and go back to being a gym leader full-time. I heard it from Brock that it was an incredibly sad day, especially for her and Ash."

Adrian frowned. "That must have been horrible for her." He then stroked his chin. "It sounds like she and this Ash guy are pretty close, huh?"

"Very," Tracey agreed. "They may fight like meowth and growlithe whenever they're together, and Misty's got a ferocious temper to match…"

"Yeah, I figured that one out, alright," he interjected, shivering.

"…but I'll tell you this: you'll never find a deeper bond between two people this side of the Milky Way."

"Wow," Adrian murmured in thought. "So, are they…?" With a few bizarre hand gestures, he clumsily attempted to get his point across.

"Oh-hoh," Tracey sniggered as he caught on. "No, no, they're just friends, currently."

"Ah," he acknowledged, although rather curious about that last word. "I wouldn't have thought someone like Misty would be single."

"Someone with her gym leader distinction, you mean?" asked Tracey, his eyebrow raised.

"Er…y-yeah, that!" Adrian stuttered, red in his cheeks once again.

"Well, now and then a challenger asks her out on a date," he explained, "but she's always maintained that her pokémon and her gym duties keep her too busy to get involved with someone. Between you and me, though…" with a smirk, the kindly watcher leaned forward, "that's definitely just an excuse. I happen to know that Misty's only ever had her eyes on one very special guy."

A strange flutter sent the architect's heart pumping uncontrollably. "Who is it?" he almost whispered.

"Like, sorry about that!" Daisy sang as she and Misty burst back into the apartment. "Hope you didn't miss me too much, Tray Tray!"

"Ehehe," Tracey winced through embarrassed laughter.

Unbeknownst to any of them, as soon as the door shut behind Misty and Daisy, a worn-out pokémon trainer stepped out of the lift and strolled briskly along the corridor.

"Surely Misty's gotta be done now," Ash said to himself.

"Pika Pikachupi," Pikachu answered for him.

"Huh? They're still in there?"

He pressed his ear to the door, through which several muffled speakers could be heard.

"Adrian, there's something I want to ask you," Misty's voice shone through immediately.

"Okay?" came a frail-sounding squeak.

"Do you want to go out for dinner with me tonight?"

A short pause elapsed. "D-Dinner?" he repeated. "Like…a d-date?"

"…But I've been wrong before…" mumbled a voice that could only have belonged to Tracey.

"Just a friendly meal to get to know each other better," said Misty, "since we'll probably be working together for quite a long time."

Ash flinched so violently that he almost headbutted the door. Had he heard that right?

"Really?" Adrian said. "Y-Yeah, of course, th-thank you! So, um, what time should I…?"

"How about seven by the big fountain?"

"S-Sure!"

The pokémon trainer outside held his head in disbelief. Misty was asking out a man she'd known for all of a few hours? Something about the idea both angered and sickened him.

"Well, you two have fun tonight," Daisy chirped. "Shall we, like, talk about these plans, then?"

A gasp could be heard from within the room.

"Oh, shoot, I left my portfolio in the lobby! Sorry, I'll be right b-back!"

Ash barely had a second to step back before a lanky, yellow-headed man sprung through the door in front of him.

"Oops!" he yelped as he narrowly avoided crashing into Ash. "S-Sorry!"

Then on he ran, straight towards the lift at the end of the hall. Catching his balance, Ash watched the figure shrink into the distance, and subsequently turned back to the door. Or, he would have, if a faint little cry hadn't floated over to his unprepared ears.

"_I've got a date!"_

"That's it," he grunted in a toneless rasp. He threw his hat to the ground, took in a hoarse breath and stormed roughly off down the stairwell.

* * *

When it came to going out in the evening – not that the opportunity came around all that often – Misty always made a point to be fashionably early. Of course, being this early tends to lose its fashionableness when the one you're meeting arrives even earlier than you, and, reaching the plaza's fountain centrepiece at precisely 6:45, the surprised girl found that this was exactly the case.

"Adrian?" Misty said to get his attention. "Wow, you must have been eager to get here."

He grinned jokingly. "Oh, I just left early because, um, I wanted to be sure I had the right fountain."

"But this is the only fountain…" she pondered confusedly.

The man noticed Misty's peculiar gaze scanning over him. "Am I overdressed?"

_Yes, extremely,_ her mind dictated to her within the second. By comparison, in only a modest blue sundress and floral sandals, she looked as if she were going to an outdoor music festival – clearly, her efforts not to lead him on had gone down like a lead drifblim. Still, she thought, the formal look was rather fetching on him. His usual turquoise shirt had been swapped out for a crisp white one, which paired very well with the dark grey suit jacket that hugged his slightly hunched shoulders. A long purplish tie completed the ensemble, so snug around his neck that it looked to be almost cutting off his blood supply.

"Maybe a little," she giggled. "You look very smart, though."

"Th-Thanks," he grinned, then bashfully looked her up and down. "Erm, you…you're, um, also, eheh…"

"It's alright, Adrian, you don't have to say anything," she smiled patiently. "Now, shall we get going?"

They found a nice, cosy little restaurant just on the fringes of the Indigo Plateau square, tucked away between two monstrous clothing outlets that occupied half the street. The place was adorable, and, as an unfortunate result, oozed romance from virtually every nook and cranny. To Misty's annoyance, this 'trial evening' was starting to look more and more like an actual date – but it was too late now to turn around and go somewhere else without arousing the poor boy's suspicions.

"Good evening!" trilled a cheerful waitress once they sat at a table in the middle of the room. "Can I get you two lovebirds something to drink?"

Adrian practically blushed himself into a catatonic state, leaving Misty to do the awkward negotiations.

"We're not a couple," she said as amicably as she could. "I'll have a soda, please. Adrian?"

"Oh, u-um," he spluttered, "s-same, thank you."

When the woman walked off, Misty turned back to Adrian to see a menu squashed up to his face, obscuring him right down to the shoulders. His fingers were noticeably trembling around the sides, and every so often she could have sworn she saw him peeking over the top of the paper at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He dropped the menu to the table, wearing an expression with notes of both panic and shame. "Oh, I'm f-fine, Misty. It's just, well," he sighed unevenly, "honestly, I've never been in a situation like this before."

"Having dinner with a friend?" she asked, despite being almost certain that wasn't what he meant.

"You…think of me as a friend?" Adrian squeaked, his face sweltering. "Even though we've only known each other for two days?"

Misty smiled. "Of course. I befriended people in a lot less time than this during my journey. When you know, you know, right?"

Though filled with warmth at this declaration, the gentle man quickly seemed to stiffen back up. "What I meant was that I've, um, never been out alone with a girl before."

"Never?" Misty gasped. "Not even once?!"

He shook his head with a little smile. "People usually find talking to me really…trying. I don't mean to be such a pain, honest, but that's the first impression girls seem to have of me, and, well, no-one's ever been able to see past it to get to know me better."

"Well, those girls sound like total jerks," she asserted. "There are far worse things than being shy, Adrian. A lot of women find it an attractive quality, in fact."

"Not from my experience," he deadpanned. "But…thanks. I'm glad I haven't totally scared you off just yet."

"Unless you're a diehard fan of carrots, peppers and bug pokémon, I highly doubt that's going to happen," she smirked. Adrian snorted, his eyes wandering down thereafter to the floor.

"Here you are," said the waitress, handing over their two drinks. Misty looked up to see that she was accompanied by a second server, a teenager with red in her cheeks and a goofy smile on her face.

"I don't mean to disturb you," she said, "but I recognised you as soon as you came in. You're Misty Waterflower!"

Misty flinched at the waitress's enthusiasm, then nodded uneasily. "I sure am," she laughed.

"You're, like, my hero!" she squealed. "When I heard about your gym, I cried for two days straight. I'm so glad you and your poor Psyduck are okay!"

The mention of Psyduck caused the redhead's smile to fade a little. "Well, one of us is," she mumbled.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't think," the girl inhaled in remorse. "I left flowers for him yesterday and this morning. He's quite famous now, you know; everyone in Indigo Plateau is rooting for him!"

"Is that true, Misty?" Adrian whispered across the table. The waitress's eyes snapped to the left.

"Hey, your boyfriend's a real cutie," she giggled. As the blushing artist froze over again, the original waitress poked her colleague disapprovingly in the side.

"_Stop bothering them and just ask!"_ she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. The younger waitress recomposed herself with an unnaturally wide grin.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll leave you guys to it now," she expressed, "but first, my friend and I really just wanted to ask: can we please have your autograph, Misty?"

Frankly, knowing that this was all they wanted was something of a relief to the flustered gym leader. Even more surprising was that the items they produced for signing were not photos, not notepads, not any of the usual stuff; rather, a pair of collectible trading cards, each featuring a mirror-edged print of Misty's psyduck. There was something quite flattering about the gesture, and she had to wonder whether they had done it on purpose, for seeing him so happy and carefree on those photos took her right back to when their lives were free of danger and distress, and everything was alright. With the help of Ash, Professor Cairn, Adrian and everyone else, she held out for the hope that it would be again.

When Misty handed back the precious signed cards, the waitresses took hers and Adrian's food orders – a seafood platter and a Unovan pasta dish, respectively – and scuttled back to their posts with a duet of excited giggles.

"Wow," mouthed Adrian. "That was…different. I expect you get that kind of thing all the time, though, right, Misty?"

"Not really," she answered airily. "People are usually more interested in meeting my sisters. But, I guess, ever since Alexa wrote that article about Psyduck…"

"People are taking more notice?" he suggested. "As it should be. I'm glad everyone finally knows the, er, real story about you and the gym now." He scratched at his nose. "For what it's worth, my brother and I believed in you all along."

"Thanks, Adrian," she purred. After a little pause, she placed her hands energetically down on the table. "So, speaking of getting to know you better: tell me something about yourself."

Though it took a couple of attempts, Misty's conversation starters were amazingly effective at bringing her shrinking violet of a friend out of his shuckle shell. The chatting was lighthearted at first, but gradually turned deeper and more personal as time went on. And by no means did it peter out over time, even when the food arrived – though Misty did find it peculiar how little of it Adrian seemed to be eating.

"…But I gave up the bassoon when I started high school," he shrugged. "I don't think I'm really the performing type, hehe."

"I tried to learn the piano for a while before I went on my journey," Misty added sheepishly. "In the end, I got angry and…kind of smashed it with a mallet."

Adrian choked a little on his drink. "Oh my g-god!" he spluttered, grinning. "How'd you get away with that?!"

"Oh, I wasn't having lessons or anything, we had a piano at the gym for my sisters' shows. It was a good way to pass the time between my homeschooling and playing with the pokémon."

"Being a gym leader sounds like quite a responsibility," Adrian puffed. "I can't imagine not having gone to school."

"It's not just gym leaders, Adrian," clarified the redhead. "More and more people are leaving home before high school age every year." She tilted her head to the side. "Your brother must have been pretty young when he left on his journey."

He snorted in confirmation. "Yep, he was out the door the minute he turned ten. That's Cormac for you. Can't sit still for more than five minutes without going totally stir crazy."

"Sounds just like Ash," Misty laughed. "I think they'd get on like a house on fire."

Adrian only nodded, suddenly feeling at a loss for words. Misty noticed the pause and quickly thought of another question. "Hey, so how come you didn't go on a journey of your own?" she asked. "Didn't you want to be a pokémon trainer?"

The question seemed to fluster him, as he immediately abandoned his meal and sat bolt upright.

"Um…" he stammered, "to tell you the truth: yes, I did. The idea of being on an endless adventure, exploring new places and finding all sorts of weird and amazing pokémon…sounds like the perfect life."

"Then why didn't you?" she queried.

He smiled a rather defeated smile. "My parents thought it'd be a waste of my talents if I put an early stop to my education. They said my future was in academia, not pokémon training, and that I should stick with what I'm good at."

"Really? They said that?"

"Yeah. I was angry at them for ages. But, you know, once I started high school and went down the architecture route, I realised that they were right all along: this is the life I was always meant to live."

"I bet that must have been a wakeup call," smirked Misty. "Don't you miss that childhood dream?"

Adrian shrugged. "Eh, it would have been nice. But I'm just not cut out to be a pokémon trainer, I know that now. And, if I hadn't been an architect, I, um, might never have met you, so…"

"Talk about a dream job," she laughed, with part sarcasm and part appreciation.

"Besides, it's too late, right? Whoever heard of a twenty-five-year-old starting out on a pokémon journey?"

"It's not too late at all!" Misty refuted. "I met plenty of people on my journey who were just starting out, and a lot of them were way older than you!"

Though he said nothing, the brightening of his eyes sufficiently got his amazement across. "Heh," he carried on, "knowing me, I'd probably fall into a river an hour in and have to be fished out."

Misty grinned. "Ha! You're not going to believe this, but that's exactly how I met Ash."

"It was?" Adrian said, suppressing a sudden shiver.

"Yeah! He got chased right off a waterfall by a flock of spearow, and I caught him on the end of my fishing line."

"Mm…" he mumbled, covering it up with, "I guess you should call him Splash instead, huh?"

While he internally rolled his eyes, the woman opposite him burst into a wheeze of laughter. "Oh my god, Adrian, that was terrible," she giggled at her blushing friend. "Though I've gotta say, I'm surprised how quick you are for a quiet guy."

The look on his face suggested he'd heard that a lot, and saw it more as an insult than a compliment. Nevertheless, he seemed not to have taken offence. "You talk about your journey a lot, Misty," he stated. "Do you miss it?"

"My journey?" She stopped laughing. "Oh, um, well, I suppose I do, a little. I love being a gym leader, don't get me wrong, but…"

"It doesn't have the same excitement?" Adrian finished for her a second time.

She nodded. "Every day on the road was different. We lived for months off of Brock's _divine_ home cooking, I caught so many beautiful pokémon, and with Ash keeping me on my toes, there was never a dull moment." Her lips curled upwards. "Or a quiet one."

It was then that the waitress reappeared to take away their plates – convenient timing, as far as Adrian was concerned, as he found he had nothing to say once again. Misty had mentioned Ash at least six or seven times since they had arrived, and for someone as prone to overanalysing as he was, he knew there had to be a correlation in there somewhere. Peculiarly, despite the fact that he was alone with Misty and had her undivided attention, the constant repetition of this particular name made him feel almost like a third wheel in a group of two.

"What's the matter, Adrian?" he heard her call over. "You look troubled."

Snapping out of it, the anxious man cleared his throat. "S-Sorry," he sighed. "I just, erm, had a b-bit of a stomachache for a s-second there. It's g-gone now, ehehe…"

"You're stuttering again," she said in concern. "What is it? You're not still nervous around me, are you?"

His face sagged like a vanillite in a steam room. "Please don't t-take it personally," he pleaded. "I'm always n-nervous, whoever I'm with. It c-comes and goes, but I know it puts people off that I can n-never be truly comfortable around them. You don't, um, h-have to stay if I'm making you uncomfortable."

There was a frustrating ambivalence with which Misty processed this information. On the one hand, she knew he couldn't help it, and had had only the nicest of intentions since the moment they'd met. But on the other, she had hoped, particularly in a setting like this, that she'd be able to break through this shyness he held so deep within him. It was very hard not to take it personally, despite what he'd said. Uncomfortable perhaps wasn't the right word, exactly, but a certain notion of doubt had been born in her mind that moment, one she was powerless to overlook. Though admitting such made her feel incredibly guilty, the very thing that had endeared him to her in the first place was now starting to look like what might drive an impassable wedge between them – and through no-one's fault but her own.

"I'm not going anywhere, Adrian. It's alright," she said, albeit unsure of whether she actually believed that. "It's alright."

* * *

"There it is," grinned Jessie through her binoculars.

"Dat's it?" Meowth questioned. "I thought you said dis joint was da cream o' da crop!"

"It does look like it could use a little TLC," commented James.

"The map says this is the right place," she clarified, "Indigo Labs. Now, all we need to do is slip in there unnoticed, grab the twerpette's- DUCK!"

As a group of unassuming pokémon trainers walked by, Jessie pushed her two teammates' heads down into their bushy hiding place across the road.

"Er, shouldn't that be 'psyduck', Jessie?" James suggested as he popped back up.

She slapped a palm to her forehead. "That's not what I meant! Ugh, forget it."

"I still say dis is stupid," Meowth grumbled. "Why's we doin' this in broad daylight instead of waitin' till sundown?"

"Well, we would've been here last night if _someone_ hadn't dropped a s'more in the balloon's burner and cost us a whole day in repairs!"

"Ehehe…" the Scratch Cat smirked guiltily.

"Besides," Jessie continued, "if we wait any longer, Cassidy will get there first and take all the glory. Again."

"How d'ya know they ain't been here already?" he said.

"You've seen how long they spend planning their _"A-squad attack strategies,"_ she imitated in an exaggerated sneer. "By the time they even leave the base, we'll have snatched up Psyduck and be heading straight for the big leagues!"

"Hear, hear!" cried James peculiarly. "It just so happens that I've packed the perfect disguises for this mission. Why waste time breaking and entering when you can simply stroll in through the front door?"

And so they did, entering the building under the veil of James's so-called 'perfect' apparel: a matador's uniform, a suit of armour complete with helmet, and a shimmering pink taffeta ball gown – for himself.

"Well, so much for blending in," Jessie garbled through the echoing metal visor.

"Big deal," Meowth hissed, the wings of his black hat flapping as he looked up. "There ain't even anyone here to blend in for!"

"How odd," James stated. "I thought the place would be crawling with brainboxes!"

"In that case, I'm taking this thing off," Jessie grunted. The clunky helmet popped off over her head, her trademark red locks uncoiling out the back like a roll of carpet.

"Hey, there's a light on in dat room!" Meowth pointed down the hall.

"That must be it," she nodded. "Ladies first."

Jessie took but three steps along the sunless corridor before falling headfirst down an unseen flight of stairs. James and Meowth, having been close behind her, soon shared the same fate.

"Oof!" they cried as they crashed through the lab door and landed in a splayed heap. Meowth stood up and massaged the conical lump on his head.

"Ain't these schmucks ever heard of a light switch?!" he growled. "Dis dump's darker than a barbecued boldore!"

"Ahhh," inhaled James pleasurably. "I recognise that scent. Gracidea, I believe. They used to grow-"

"On your parents' estate, we get it," Jessie snapped. "If it weren't for that frightful ex-fiancée of yours, I'm starting to think you'd never have run away from there in a million years."

Meowth, also picking up the aroma, followed his keen sense of smell (in spite of having no nose) over to the bulky apparatus against the left-hand wall.

"Hey, you guys, point yer peepers over here!" His three feline digits directed their attention to the glass chamber housing a sleeping old adversary.

"There he is!" Jessie whispered.

"Is he asleep?" wondered James.

"More like out cold," Meowth posited. "A building fallin' on ya's gonna take a bit more than walkin' off, even for a pokémon. Poifect time ta swipe 'im!"

All in agreement, the trio turned fully to Psyduck's enclosure. Meowth pounced up to the console, and Jessie and James crept steadily closer to the fragrant glass capsule, careful not to trip on any of the trailing wires along the floor. With barely a metre to go, a harsh creaking sound stopped them dead in their tracks, followed by the clash of two thick metal cables slapping down from the skylight.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" yelled Jessie as the contemptable blonde and her green-mopped partner abseiled down to the floor.

"Well, look who it is," Cassidy cackled. "I must say, Jessie, dear, that outfit does nothing for your figure. Then again, what would, right?"

"Grrrr…!" she foamed, her face turning red.

"You bozos musta took a wrong turn," sneered Butch, "'cause I KNOW you ain't here to try and pilfer that pokémon before us!"

"And what makes you so sure, Bung?" James cut in.

"It's Butch, you moron, Butch!" fumed the man, a manic fire in his eyes.

Cassidy laughed again. "Oh, you are, aren't you? How cute. Well, I'm sorry, darlings, but that psyduck is coming with us – boss's orders. If you don't like it…" she twirled a pokéball around on her finger, "you'll have to take him from us."

Without vacillation, Jessie unclipped her own pokéball and prepared to launch it forward.

"Jessie, we's ain't got time for dis!" Meowth hissed up at her. "Let's just grab psyduck and scram!"

"No way!" she spat back. "If Cassidy and Booger want a fight, they've got one! Go, Girafarig!"

The impish Girafarig took form on the tiles between the two groups. It kicked its front legs up in the air while its tail looked around with a menacing grin.

"Graaaaa freeeee!" it whinnied in excitement.

"You too, Mareep!" James declared, lobbing his pokéball forwards and cooing when his fluffy new companion emerged.

"Have it your way," shrugged Cassidy. "Let's go, Sableye!"

"Shuckle, come on out!" Butch mirrored.

Their pokémon stood directly opposite their foes, primed in their respective attack and defence poses.

"Okay, then," Jessie snarled, "Girafarig, use…! Uhh…"

As Butch and Cassidy began to snigger, Jessie swivelled around to her teammate. "_James, what moves does this overgrown piñata have?"_ she whispered urgently.

"Just a sec," he nodded, fumbling around in the cleavage of his gown.

"We're waiting," Cassidy teased in a singsong voice.

"Ah, here we are," James beamed, producing a deck of trainer cards and shuffling quickly through them. "Girafarig, the Long Neck Pokémon. Girafarig's moves are Stomp, Crunch, Agility and Zen Headbutt."

"Are they serious?" Butch mouthed with great amusement.

"Alright, Girafarig…" Jessie pointed forward, "use Stomp on Sableye!"

Though the pokémon's tail locked eyes with her on the command, the front head – and, consequently, the body – did nothing.

"Hey, didn't you hear me?" she growled. "I said Stomp, now!"

"Vreeeeheeeheee," tittered Girafarig, pretending not to have heard.

"Why, you little…!"

Leaping forward, Jessie angrily pushed against the defiant psychic-type's behind in an attempt to get it going. At this point, Cassidy and Butch were howling with laughter.

"Um, you do know that Stomp won't even affect Sableye, don't you, Jessie?" Cassidy purred once she caught her breath.

"She's right, Jess," James remarked timidly. "Sableye is part ghost-type, and ghost-types are unaffected by normal-type moves."

"Huh?!" She stopped pushing and feigned innocence. "Well, of c-course I knew that! I…meant Crunch! Girafarig, use Crunch!"

To her surprise, her wayward pokémon did not need a second instruction this time around. Perhaps less surprising was that the source of said attack, never mind its actual target, could have done with a little more clarifying.

"AYAYAYAYAYAYARGH!" came a stuttering scream as most of the redhead's red head disappeared into the chomping mouth of Girafarig's tail. "GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF, YOU STUPID-"

"Bahahahaha, they're killing me!" Butch guffawed.

"Focus, Bulb," tutted Cassidy next to him.

With a shake of his head, Butch regained his composure and stood up straight. "Shuckle, use Sludge Bomb on that stupid little mareep!"

"Shookoooo," affirmed the worm-like mollusc pokémon. Standing on the tips of its four stubby legs, Shuckle spat a fat globule of purple sludge right across the room. Mareep caught the majority of it with her face – and immediately burst into tears.

"Aaaaaah!" wailed James as the blubbering lamb barrelled into his arms. "Oh, you poor baby! Shuuuush, now, Daddy's got you…"

"Oh, brother," sighed Meowth. "Looks like we's got another Chimecho, alright."

Cassidy stepped forward. "Well, you three, this has been very amusing," she sneered, "but if you don't mind, we've got a job to do here, so let's wrap this up."

She looked down to Sableye. "Fury Swipes, go!"

Its claws unfurled, Sableye darted across the floor towards its opponents. Its steps started out fast, then mysteriously slowed with each subsequent footfall until the little jewel-eyed ghoul was unable to move. From the capsule in front of it spewed two beams of light, blue and unnatural. They lasted but a second, and everyone thought that they were safe…until a pummelling shockwave blew them clean out of the building.

* * *

The night had not been without its setbacks, Misty had to admit. But once the distraction of the food was out of the way, her companion had had no choice but to commit to attempting conversation, and as a result, the atmosphere quickly turned calm and amicable once again. Maybe she had been too quick to have her doubts about poor Adrian. It wasn't his fault he was so shy, after all, and there was certainly more to him than meets the eye – especially considering that what met her eye was the likeness of her polar-opposite best friend.

"Misty?" Adrian spoke up. "I just wanna say that I've, um, well, really enjoyed tonight."

"Me too," she smiled. "It was great to get to know the real you away from work, Adrian. Though…I still feel bad about ordering dessert without you."

"It's fine, it's fine, I told you!" he laughed off. "I'm just amazed you managed to finish all that ice cream."

"Well, it wasn't gonna eat itself," she winked a little sheepishly.

While Adrian looked around in slight awkwardness, Misty reached over and placed her hand gently on top of his. "You know, I think I feel a lot better now," she said with a little flutter in her voice, "about the gym, that is. You're a great guy, Adrian – I have faith in you."

The flushed man, whose breath had been stolen by the softness of her skin, could only cough clumsily behind his free hand. "Th-Thank y-you," he managed to splutter out. "I'll do m-my best, Misty. I pr-promise."

When all was said and done, the two new friends waited patiently for someone to come round to the table with the bill. However, as they soon discovered, many of the waiters were suddenly rather distracted.

"Do you have a reservatio-HEY!"

"Er, wait, sir, you can't go in there!"

Misty, startled but with piqued curiosity nonetheless, did not have to wait long to find out who was causing all this ruckus.

"Professor Cairn?" she said in surprise. "Are you alright? How'd you know I was here?"

He wiped his brow with a rubble-specked sleeve. "I tracked your pokégear," he panted. "Misty, we need to get to the lab right now."

"The lab?" she asked, her features darkening. "Professor, what's happened?"

"I'll explain on the way," he said. "Come on!"

She got up and left without a second's hesitation, leaving Adrian at a rather jarring momentary loss. He quickly dropped a few pristine banknotes onto the table and rushed out of the restaurant to join them.

"My PDA picked up an exponential psychic spike while I was out on my evening walk," Cairn puffed as they ran across the plaza. "I thought Psyduck might be having another seizure, so I rushed back as quick as I could. When I got there…"

"What?" Misty was growing increasingly alarmed. "What is it?"

"I…don't know. I couldn't see for all the smoke."

Her heart lurched in the most sickening of ways. She knew she shouldn't have been wasting her time on childish dinner dates when her pokémon needed her.

"Although, judging by the pattern of energy dispersal," Cairn added, "I'd say he wasn't alone in there."

Adrian's ears pricked up. "You mean someone broke in?" he postulated. "Who would do that?"

The trio turned the corner towards Indigo Labs seconds after, and, amongst the towers of black smoke and fleeing pedestrians, Misty promptly laid eyes on their answer.

"Well, there's always one that comes to mind," she groaned as a number of familiar heads popped out of the wreckage pile in front of the entrance. "Team Rocket."

"Get your butt outta my face!" Cassidy barked at James, pushing him roughly off the pile.

"Oooooh!" he yelped – both when hitting the ground and spying the redheaded twerpette glaring murderously at him.

"Team R-Rocket?" cried Adrian. "As in the cr-crime syndicate?"

"The same," answered Cairn, his tone both solemn and affronted.

The remaining intruders had clambered out of the debris by this point, and gathered back into their respective groups facing Misty and her friends.

"Now there's a face we ain't seen in a while!" Butch chuckled to himself. "Sorry, toots, but we gotta take that psyduck off your hands. Be right with ya, just as soon as we deal with these clowns."

Meowth bared his claws. "What's dat supposed ta mean, joik? You wanna throw down, I'll throw down!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

While the two teams squabbled, Misty leaned subtly to her left.

"If you've got pokémon, Adrian, now is the time to use them," she whispered.

"O-Okay?" he acknowledged uneasily. Nodding, she took in an angry breath.

"HEY!" The bickering stopped instantly. "Let's get one thing straight: nobody is taking Psyduck anywhere, you hear me? If you don't clear off right this second, my friend and I are gonna blast you so high that Arceus will have to look up to see you!"

Jessie's eyes narrowed at the friend in question. "James, does that blond dork remind you of anyone?"

"Hmm…" He also looked closer. "Huh?! I thought that was the twerp!"

"Da twoipette's definitely got a type, alright," Meowth laughed knowingly.

Misty, meanwhile, was getting more and more annoyed. "Hey, quit muttering!" she snapped. "Staryu, go!"

"Hyaa!" exclaimed the faceless Star Shape pokémon as it appeared.

"I'll deal with Cassidy and Dutch," she said to Adrian. "You take care of the other three, okay?"

Once again, the boy only nodded timidly. "Er, c-come out, Timburr!"

He limply chucked the pokéball down at his feet, out of which came a short but vascular being shouldering a thick wooden beam.

"Let's make this quick," Cassidy smirked. "Sableye, use Shadow Ball!"

"Staryu, dodge and use Water Gun!"

Staryu jumped just as the crackling black ball whooshed underneath it, then shot a furious blast of water right in Sableye's face.

"Alright!" Misty encouraged. "Now circle around and hit Shuckle with your Double-Edge attack!"

In mid-air, the agile star spun itself into a blur and clashed straight into Shuckle before it even had the chance to defend itself.

"Ooof!" Butch coughed as his heavy, shelled pokémon landed right on top of him. While she had a minute, Misty looked over to Adrian, who seemed to have been standing there doing nothing.

"Adrian, what's going on?" she asked, a little impatiently.

"Um, s-sorry!" he replied. "Timburr, use Focus Energy!"

The musclebound grey biped hunched over, grunting slightly as power swelled up inside of him.

"Jess, try another of Girafarig's attacks," James suggested.

"Ugh, worth a shot," she shrugged. "Girafarig, Zen Headbutt!"

While its legs kicked energetically, the white part of Girafarig's face began to glow a pulsing blue. It charged with impressive vitality – but not at Timburr or Staryu. Rather, to Jessie's chagrin, the nearby lamppost.

_Clang!_ went its horns against the metal pole. The blue energy split into multiple arcs, forking wildly in every direction like a kind of psychic thunderstorm. Many of them were concentrated in Staryu's area, creating quite a challenge for the Cerulean gym leader.

"That's it, Staryu, keep dodging!" she spurred on as Staryu tried its best to avoid being hit. One small thread struck Timburr square in the chest, causing Adrian to panic.

"Aaaah, Timburr!" he wailed, his hands pressed up to his mouth. "M-Misty, I need h-help!"

"I'm a little busy right now, Adrian!" she tutted with a strain in her voice.

"Err…"

Improvisation was not his strong suit – but for Misty and Psyduck, he'd certainly try. "Timburr, use-"

"Sableye, another Shadow Ball, go!"

The attack was a direct hit, despite there being plenty of time to dodge. The fragile Adrian's confidence was ebbing by the second.

"I can't do th-this, Misty!" he shouted.

"Yes, you can!" she shouted back. "Timburr's been storing all that energy, so everything depends on its next attack. You have to tell it what to do!"

"B-But I…I don't kn-"

"DAMMIT, ASH, JUST DO IT!"

And then, just like the ringing of a gong, all the noise and chaos around them was completely swallowed up in those five echoing words. They looked at each other, eyes of confusion, shock and distress locked together in one uncomfortably drawn-out stare. Misty, in particular, felt deeply disturbed by what she had just heard herself say. Why did she call him that? What really was her 'goal' in instigating this tag battle? Now was not the time to ruminate, and she knew that. But this had somehow changed things for her, compromised everything in a matter of second, and on the day that she was supposed to finally see clearly, she suddenly felt more foggy than ever.

"Magcargo, Body Slam!"

A smudge of orange and grey whooshed past them, crashing into Girafarig and knocking it straight out. Seconds later, approaching footsteps could be heard from behind.

"I had it!" Adrian grumbled, hurt and humiliated.

"Had what, your finger in your ass?" Macy grinned. "Don't sweat it, hot stuff. Double Team, Magcargo!"

The lava snail gave a gurgling cry before releasing a swarm of light-based clones from its shell.

"Shuckle, find the real one with Sludge Bomb!" Butch ordered.

Many of the clones fizzled out as successive gobs of sludge ploughed through them. Macy scuttled in front of Misty, who crossed her arms and began to mutter under her breath.

"Now, Flamethrower! Send these chumps packing!"

"You too, Staryu!" Misty butted in, also stepping forward. "BubbleBeam!"

From each of the Magcargo clones burst a scorching jet of fire that engulfed Sableye, Shuckle and the unconscious Girafarig. Coupled with Staryu's barrage of bubbles, the attacks brought about a smoky explosion, throwing both the pokémon and their trainers high into the air.

"This is all your fault!" Cassidy whined at Jessie in mid-air. "What're we going to tell the boss now?!"

Meowth looked over. "Well, you's are probably gonna get there real soon, because…" The whole group inhaled in preparation.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

When the smoke cleared, Macy turned around to face the rest of the group with a wide smile on her face. Adrian stood off to the side, his head hung low.

"Long time no see, Misty!" she trilled. "That was awesome!" She leaned in slyly. "Hey, who's your friend?"

"What are you doing here?" Misty said in mild disgust.

"You're _welcome!_" Macy shrugged, though still with a smirk. "I'm in town for the Indigo League. Didn't Ash tell you?"

As fate would have it, another arrival on the scene diverted the group's attention before Misty could answer.

"Oh my god, are you guys alright?" Brock said, his hair slightly damp with sweat.

"Pikachupi!" squeaked Pikachu on his shoulder.

"We're fine," Misty replied plainly. "Where've you been?"

"And come to think of it, where's Ash?" Macy added.

Brock eyed Adrian curiously as he opened his mouth to speak. "Ash has been with me. He fell asleep in the apartment just as I heard the explosion."

"He's asleep?" Misty queried. "At nine o'clock at night? What's up with him?"

"Um…" he scratched his head, "it's kind of a long story. Maybe it should wait until morning."

A short silence rang out among the group. "So, what now?" Macy said.

Professor Cairn cleared his throat. "Psyduck needs our attention," he declared. "Shall we, Misty?"

The excitable Johto girl clapped her hands together as the two of them vanished into the lab. "Well, looks like my work here is done!" she giggled, turning on her heel. "See ya round, Brocko!"

"Uh, yeah, see you," Brock mumbled. When she caught Adrian's eye, the mischievous woman made sure to exaggerate the sensuality of her walk.

"Till next time, cutie pie," she winked, then disappeared off into the sunset. Adrian watched as she left, a new feeling of curiosity piling itself atop everything else his mind had hurled at him this wholly unusual night.

"Cutie pie?"


End file.
